LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, 

Chap.f^'^^.Copyright No, 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



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THE 



ISLES OF SHOALS 



HISTOEICAL SKETCH 



BY 



JOHN SCRIBNER JENNESS. 




BOSTON: 
HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY. 

New York: 11 East Seventeenth Street. 

(C][)C liilirrffilie pixs^, <irani!iribge. 

1901 



92445 



L.ibrary orCon$rra«« 

Two COWES Receiveo 

DEC S2 1900 
SECOND conr 

0«t<v«Ked to 

OROiR CHViSION 

DEC 28 mo 



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Copyright, 1873, 
By JOHN SCRIBNER JENNESS. 

Copyright, 1901, 
By MARY H. JENNESS. 

All rights reserved. 



The Riverside Press, Cambridge, Mass., U. S. A. 
Printed by H. O. Houghton & Company. 



PEEFACE TO SECOXD EDITION. 



Since the original edition of this little work was 
published, important changes have occurred at the 
Shoals. Another of those summer palaces, replete 
with every convenience and elegance, has arisen on 
these barren rocks ; another steamer brings daily still 
other swarms of pleasure-seekers and invalids from 
all parts of the country to these salubrious islets. 
The Shoals have become the most frequented, and 
perhaps the most fashionable summer resort in New 
England. The circle of readers has thus been so^ 
widely enlarged, that we find ourselves called upon 
to issue another edition, in answer to a larger demand 
than we had anticipated. 

In this second edition, we have thought fit, in some 
parts, to enlarge the original text of our MonogTaph, 
wherever the new matter seemed hkely to be inter- 
esting or had the merit of novelty. 

The occasion has also been taken to correct such 
errors in the first edition, as criticism or our own 
later researches have exposed ; some improvement 

(1) 



- PREFACE TO SEC OS D EDITION. 

has been made in the illustrations ; a facsimile of 
the United States Coast Survey Sailing Chart has 
been added, and a considerable collection of papers 
and documents gathered into an Appendix. 

We hope our Historical Sketch will be found in 
these ways materially improved, and better entitled 
to the kind reception it has everywhere met. 



INTRODUCTION. 



THE cluster of rocks, knoTvn as the Isles of Shoals, 
wliicli rise out of the ocean some two leagues from 
the mainland of New Hampshire, enjoy a preference, 
as a summer resort, over all the other islets which stud 
the Gulf of Maine. Hither come yearly, and in 
increasing throngs, great multitudes of people from all 
parts of the country, to refresh their jaded spirits 
in the cool solitude, the healing silence, of these barren 
rocks. 

The islands are not, in themselves, more attractive, 
p >rhaps, than many others on the New England coast. 
Thev are but stacks of bulo-incr crranite, weather- 
bleached, tossed over with boulders of all sizes, ragged 
and torn on the edges where they confront the ocean, 
and everywhere of a broken, irregular surface. No 
smooth ground is upon them, except a few acres of 
mowing land on Halev's, and a few small vegetable 

(3) 



4 ISLES OF SHOALS, 

gardens upon Star. They are wholly destitute of trees, 
and even of shrubs, except huckleberry and bayberry 
bushes, woodbmes, wildroses, and such like, wherever 
in the crevices of the rocks the shallow roots have 
found a handful of soil. Moreover, this dearth of 
vegetable life is naturally accompanied by a scarcity 
of animal life. Land animals are rarely seen; sing- 
ing birds find little here to attract their stay. The 
stillness of tlie Islands, in calm weather, is profound; 
their barrenness absolute. 

The reason of the preference these bare Islets have 
acquired as a " ivatering place^^'' is not, however, far 
to seek. It is to be found chiefly in their climate. 

The easterly wands that sweep landward over New 
England, are caught in the north by the long 
coast of Acadia and Maine, and emptied into Casco 
Bay; while, on the south, the projecting arms of 
Cape Cod and Cape Ann gather them up and pour 
them into the " Bay of the Massachusetts." Thence 
come the cheerless fogs, and mists, and soaking rains, 
which visit so frequently the region of Boston and 
Portland, while, at the same time, the shores of New 
Hampshire, at an equal distance between these cities, 
rejoice in clear skies and gentle breezes. Impressed 
with the importance of this circumstance, we have 
taken pains to collate such meteorological observa* 



TSLES OF SHOALS. O 

fcioiis at those three points as were accessible. The 
results show a wider discrepancy than we had sus- 
pected. 

According to the careful observations taken by the 
officers of the Medical department of the army, at Fort 
Preble in Portland Harbor, Fort Constitution at New- 
castle, and Fort Independence at Boston, during the 
period from 1831 to 1843, it turns out, that while there 
are during the year, on the average, fifty-eight rainy 
days at Portland, and nearly fifty-eight at Boston, 
there are but twenty-five at the Piscataqua. The 
mean annual rain-fall at Portland is thirty-seven 
inches, at Boston forty-two inches, and at Portsmouth 
but thirty inches. On the other hand, while the aver- 
age temperature of the summer months is at Portland 
66° Fahr., and at Boston 68°, that of Portsmouth is but 
63°. The mean annual range of temperature at Fort 
Preble is 100.66° Fahr., at Fort Independence in Bos- 
ton 96.75°, at Portsmouth 92.20°; the bleak »-^asterly 
winds blow on the average at Portland 86 days in 
the year, at Boston 118 days, at Portsmouth but 81 
days.i 

It is this marked superiority of New Hampshire over 
her neighbors in respect of climate, that has brought 
(he coast of that state into great and growing favor 

1 Meteorolog. Reg. for U. S., pp. 322, 324. 



6 ISLES OF SHOALS. 

as a summer resort ; and as the knowledge of that 
superiority of cHmate shall extend, the multitude of 
summer visitors to her mainland and adjacent islands, 
will, we predict, continue to increase indefinitely. 

The Isles of Shoals thus depend very largely upon 
the exceptional beauty of their summer climate for 
their charm. Seated within dim view of the main- 
land, the summer winds from all quarters are tempered 
and refreshed by the wide expanse of ocean around 
them ; the thermometer is singularly steady ; sudden 
changes are rare ; ^ the skies are clear ; the sea 
is blue and bright ; pleasant breezes cool the blood 
and brace the nerves, and sleep is relaxed and soothed 
by the perpetual plash of a slumberous ocean. Some- 
times, indeed, the tempest rises in its wrath and 
dwakes old ocean from its repose, and then, for a 
space, the uproar of the elements is appalling ; but 
this fierce mood is not the habitual temper of the 
place during the summer months. Those who love to 
witness Nature in her wild and angry humor, should 
visit her here in the December storms. 

None of the group are of any considerable size. The 
total area of the cluster, seven or eight in number, 

1 So strangely equable is tlie temperature, especially during 
the summer, that visitors are said sometimes to suspect the mer- 
3ury has been craftily removed from the thermometers, and the 
Aihe painted to stand always at 65°. 



ISLES OF SHOALS. 7 

does not exceed, says Williamson, 600 acres ; of which. 
Appledore, formerly Hog Island, is the largest, being 
about a mile in length from east to west, and five- 
eighths of a mile across. SmuUy Nose, or Haley's 
Island, is next in size, about a mile long and half 
a mile in width. These two islands, together with Ma- 
laga, Cedar, and Duck Islands, belong to the State of 
Maine. The next in size to Smutty Nose, is Star 
Island, on which formerly stood the town of Gosport, — 
on the New Hampshire side of the line. " It is three- 
fourths of a mile long from N. W. to S. E., and 
half a mile wide." 

The harbor of the Shoals — enclosed between 
Appledore, Haley's, Cedar, and Star Islands, — fur- 
nishes a tolerably secure refuge for small vessels 
" in distress of weather." With a view of improving 
this little port, Mr. Samuel Haley constructed about 
the beginning of the present century, a sea-wall 
between Smutty Nose (now named after him HaleT/s 
Island^., and the small rock on its north, called 
Malaga. In 1821, the United States Government 
reconstructed and improved this wall, and also built 
another of considerable length from Smutty Nose 
to Cedar Island on the south. While this latter sea- 
wall stood, it furnished a great protection to the en 
closed anchorage ground ; but the contractor, Mr 



8 TSLES OF SHOALS. 

Thomas Plaven, of Portsmouth, was unable, with the 
scanty appropriation at his command ($2,500), to 
l)uild it sufficiently solid to resist the tremendous 
attacks of the ocean under a north-east storm. A 
few years after the sea-wall had been completed, 
it was overthrown so thoroughly, that hardly a ves- 
tige of it is now remaining ; only a part of its 
course being discernible at low water. Lying, how- 
ever, as the harbor does, under the lee of Apple- 
dore. Smutty Nose and Malaga, it affords a tolera- 
ble shelter for the fishing craft and coasters who 
still take refuge there. It is to be hoped that the 
U. S. Government, in view of the great importance 
of this little harbor as a refuge from our frequent 
easterly storms, will, ere long, make an appropriation 
adequate to the permanent restoration of the Cedar 
Island sea-wall.^ 

It is not our purpose, in these pages, to enter 
upon any detailed description of these noted Islets. 
The magazines and newspapers have of late years 
abounded with articles on that subject. Poetry and 
romance have chosen these rocks as favorite themes. 
Wliittier, Hawthorne, and Lowell have ili::mined 
them with the magical light of their genius ; and 
above all, the pencil of Mrs. Celia Thaxter has por- 

^ Such an appropriation has been made since the publication 
of the first edition. 



ISLES OF SHOALS. 9 

trayed their sublimity and picturesque beauty with so 
much both of vigor and dehcacy, that nothing is 
left to be desired. 

The general interest of the public in these Islets 
miglit, however, be pleased, we have thought, with a 
fuller account of their earli/ history than has hitherto 
been furnished. The Shoals have never enjoyed 
their local antiquary. A few facts and anecdotes 
concerning them were gathered up, in 1800, by the 
Rev. Jedidiah Morse, and published in the Mass. 
Hist. Collections ; Williamson, in his history of Maine, 
has reproduced this essay with slight additions ; 
the Coast Survey Reports may have contributed a 
little more, and in the collections of our various 
Antiquarian Societies, allusions to the group may be 
found, sparsely scattered here and there ; but the 
reader will in vain seek, amid these jejune and trivial 
materials, for much of instruction or entertainment. 
It is only from the ancient town and Provincial 
Records, the statutes, documents and correspondence 
which have descended to us, as w^ell as from the 
careful study of general American and European 
chronicles, that any thorough local history of the Isles 
"kf Shoals can, at the present day, be compiled. 

Such a task would, however, be laborious to the 
T\^nter, while the minate rtlation of petty occurences 



10 



ISLES OF SHOALS. 



among a community of fisliermen and sailors, especially 
now that the entire population has been swept away, 
must needs prove wearisome to the general reader. 

It is our utmost hope, that some selections from the 
highly romantic early annals of the Isles of Shoals, 
together with a brief sketch of the social, moral, and 
religious condition of the motley, shifting population, 
who formerly in large numbers inhabited these rocks, 
may serve to while away a vacant hour or two of somn 
summer idler, amid these once busy scenes. 





CHAM PLAIN 



ISLES OF SHOALS. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE Isles of Shoals played a more important part 
in the early history of New England, than the 
general reader would probably imagine. Long before 
the landing of the Pilgrim Fathers, these barren rocks 
were visited and described by the French and English 
navigators, and were the annual resort of fishermen 
from Virginia and maritime Europe. Indeed, when 
we consider that durino; the entire sixteenth cen- 
tury, fleets of fishing vessels yearly visited our eastern 
waters, we are justified in conjecturing, that for many 
lustres of years anterior to the settlement of New 
England, the commodiousness of the Isles of Shoals 
for the prosecution of the fisheries must have, summer 
after summer, attracted thither the Doggers and 
Pinckes of the English ; the clumsy Busses of Hol- 

(11) 



12 ISLES OF SHOALS, 

land and Zealand, the light Fly-Boats of Flanders, 
the Biskiner, and the Portingal, and many another of 
those odd high-peaked vessels, whose models seem so 
quaint, and whose rig is so incomprehensible to us of 
the present day. 

The first unmistakable mention of these Islets 
falls, however, within the succeeding century. There 
can be Httle doubt they were sighted by Gosnold in 
1602, and by Martin Pring in 1603 ; but it is not 
until the voyage of the French along our coast in 
1605, that a distinct reference to them is made in the 
chronicles. 

In 1603, the French monarch, Henry of Navarre, 
beino; desirous of extendino; his dominions in the New 
World, granted to Pierre de Guast, sieur de Monts, 
a patent for the entire territory from the 40th to 
the 46th dea'ree of North Latitude — embracino; thus 
the whole of our present New England.^ The next 
year (1604), De Monts, accompanied by Samuel Cham- 
plain de Brouage, and a considerable party of emi- 
grants, sailed from France, to take possession of the 
granted territory; and coasting along the rock-bound 
shores of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, landed at 
last on the Island of St. Croix (now called Neutral Isl- 
jind), in Passamaquoddy Bay. Here De Monts set up 

1 Murdock, Hist, of Nova Scotia, Vol. I., p. 22. 



ISLES OF SHOALS. 13 

the royal standard of France, and passed the winter. 
The next summer (1605) he resolved to seek a 
warmer climate for the permanent foundation of his 
French colony. 

Accordingly, he undertook a voyage of discovery 
to the southward, in a pinnace of fifteen tons, which 
he had built at St. Croix Island, during the winter, — 
the firstling, probably, of our New England marine. 
In his company went Champlain, the chronicler of the 
voyage, Champdore, the master, and a crew of about 
twenty sailors and soldiers. 

As the waters to be traversed were little known to 
them, the pinnace was piloted along the coast by a 
young Indian of Acadia, named Panounias^ and his 
lately wedded squaw, " whom," says Champlain, " he 
did not wish to part from."^ Panounias was of the 
Souriquois, or Micmac, tribe who inhabited Acadia, 
but his gentle spouse came from the hostile Armouchi- 
quois of the western coast. Her mother's wigwam 
had been pitched near the Chouahouet, or Saco River. 
It was in the course of his stolen visits by sea to th« 
Indian maiden, that Panounias had, doubtless, become 
familiar with the coast from the Oigudi (or St. Johns) 
to the Saco River. From headland to headhmd 

1 Panoniac, according to L'Escarbot. 

^Les Voyages de Champlain, Quebec ed., Vol. III., p. 45. 



14 ISLES OF SHOALS. 

Panounias now pointed out the course to de Monts 
and Champlain ; through the thousand islets along the 
coast, he tlu'eaded the way ; he led them mto the 
harbors, and piloted them up the rivers, and showed 
them where provisions and sweet waters were to be 
had. The cruise was most prosperous and delightful ; 
the Indian girl, who stood by the side of Panoun- 
ias in the prow of the pinnace, proved, indeed, a 
very Halcyon of the seas. Soft breezes wafted the 
bark everywhere over a smiling ocean, and the light 
of moon and stars gleamed tranquilly by night on its 
surface. 

Sometimes, bands of the natives would come down 
to the shore, and, with every token of amity, would 
dance and o;ambol beside the vessel, for miles aloncj 
the sands ; sometimes, Panounias and his bride would 
be set ashore to hold tahagie^ or council, with them, 
and to carry them presents ; and then, says the chroni- 
cler, "z7s redaunserent mieux qiC awparavant^'* (they 
danced better than ever). 

And now comes the yachting party to Richman's 
Island, near Casco Bay ; and there they find such 
abundance of grapes, that they name it " L'isle de 
Bacchus"; the natives gather around them, and the 
aight is spent in mirth and revelry. 

Next day the pinnace swept along to Chouahouet, 



ISLES OF SHOALS. 15 

nowSaco ; and there they met with bands of musicians, 
who could play rustic melodies upon flageolets made 
out of reeds or cornstalks, " en gamhadant^^'' says 
L'Escarbot, " selon leur coutume,^''^ (gambolling, as they 
are wont). 

Shortly after, they landed at Cape Porpoise, named 
by Champlain, " Le Port aux isles," and here they 
were charmed with the glad song of infinite numbers 
of blackbirds and bob-o-links ; and thence to the Kenne- 
bunk River, where they Avere astonished with the 
immense flocks of turtle doves or wild pigeons. 

On the 15th day of July, 1605, the French navi- 
gators sailed smoothly on from Cape Porpoise twelve 
leagues toward the south ; they coasted along the 
beaches of Maine and New Hampshire, passing the 
Piscataqua River without notice, and by nightfall, had 
reached Great Boar's Head in Hampton. Finding no 
harbor there, they again put to sea, a couple of leagues, 
and looked about them in the twilight. What they 
saw shall be better given in the language of Cham- 
plain, for his words are the first written description, 
however brief, of the Isles of Shoals. 

" Nous airperceusmes un cap a la grande terre au 
in quart du suest de nous, ou il pourioit avoir quelque 
%ix lieues; a Vest deux lieues, apperceusmes trois 

1 Hist, de la Nouv. France, Vol. II., p. 562. 



1(3 JSLES OF SHOALS. 

ou quatre isles asses hautes, et a Vouest^ un grand cul 
de sac^ 

" We saw a cape, bearing south, a quarter southeast 
from us, distant some eighteen miles ; on the east, two 
leagues distant, we saw three or four rather promi- 
nent islands, and on the west Ipswitch Bay." The 
three or four *' isles asses hautes^^^ spoken of by 
Champlain, were our present Isles of Shoals. 

After this, the French navigators sailed on as far 
as Long Island Sound, and thence returned to 
Acadia, without having selected any particular spot 
in New England for a settlement. The following 
year they renewed their search, but with the same 
lack of success, and from that time, the French 
turned their eyes wholly to the St. Lawrence and 
Canada ; Champlain, in 1608, founded Quebec, and 
New England was left unoccupied, to be some years 
later colonized by the English. 

Had de Monts and Champlain been moved by the 
virgin charms of New England, it is quite certain 
the flood of French emigration would have been 
diverted to her shores, and she would have embraced 
for ages, perhaps even to the present time, the 
fortunes of the French people ; the French language 
would have been heard to-day on the banks of 
the Piscataqua, and over the rocks of Champlain'a 



ISLES OF SHOALS. 17 

asses Jiautes,'^ the vivacity of French manners 
would have startled the precise streets of Boston itself, 
and the Jesuit or the Franciscan would have cele- 
brated high mass upon her altars. 

Some of our readers may perhaps regard this rescue 
of New England, as a RemarkaUe Frovidenccy— par- 
Mcularly those who are not much acquainted \-ath 
France. 

The melancholy fate of poor Panounias, who 
piloted the French pinnace so happily past the 
''isles asses Jiautes,'' must not be passed over 
unlamented. Only two years afterwards, his bride 
was called to bewail his cold-blooded murder at 
the hands of her own jealous kindred. Panounias 
had gone, in his canoe, to the Saco River, upon a 
trading voyage with some goods of De Monts. He 
was there treacherously set upon by the warriors of 
tlie Armouchiquois, and put to death; in retaliation, 
they pretended, for injuries inflicted on them by some 
of Panounias' tribe in Acadia. 

The corpse of the murdered brave was, however, 
rescued from their fury, and carried back by the faith- 
ful Ouagimou to Port Royal, Tnow Annapolis,) where 
long and bitter lamentations, after the Indian fashion, 
were held over the embalmed remains by his bereaved 
2 



18 ISLES OF SHOALS. 

widow, his father and mother, and at length by the 
whole body of his tribe. 

In the spring, the corpse of Panounias was borne 
ytealthily away by night in a solitary canoe, to be buried 
on a lone sandy islet, near the stormy Cape Sable. The 
situation of this Island of the Bead was known only 
to the Aoutiyioins^ or sorcerers of the tribe, and by 
them sacredly concealed, in order that the repose of 
their departed warriors might never be disturbed by 
enemy or stranger. In this wierd, grewsome island, 
desolated by the winds, and resounding with the roar 
of an ever tempestuous sea, Panounias lies asleep — 
dreaming, it may be, of the bhssful voyage when, 
with his dusky bride, he guided the Frenchmen 
along our New England coast, and pointed out to 
Champlain and Champdor^ the " isles asses hautes.^^ 

But Panounias died not unsung nor unavenged. 
Membertou, the Sagamo of the Souriquois, summoned 
all his braves to the war-path, and, the next summer, 
made a determined assault upon the murderers at Saco. 
Many of the Armouchiquois fell, and much blood was 
shed, before Membertou's vengeance was satiated. 
L'Escarbot, who witnessed the departure of the aveng- 
ing expedition from Port Royal, in 1607, and also its 
triumphant return, composed a poem upon its achieve- 



ISLES OF SHOALS. 



19 



ments, which is — such as it is — the first epic, in 
form, composed in North America. ^ 

^ It is to be found in "Les Muses dela Nouvelle France," Paris, 
1612. 




CHAPTER II. 

I^OR a number of years after the French abandoned 
this attempt at the colonization of New England, 
our coasts remained, in the language of Captain Smith, 
"a rockie, barren, desolate desarV The Popham colony 
at Sagadehoc had vanished, and seven years later, we 
are told, " there was not one Christian in all the land." 

But the teeming waters of the Gulf of Maine were 
still frequented by considerable fleets of fishing vessels 
during the summer season. Among others, came up 
from Virginia the renowned Sir Samuel Argal. His 
first acquaintance with these waters was made in 1610, 
when he and a consort, under Sir George Somers, 
were driven by a tempest far out of their course, 
into the mouth of the Penobscot River. 

It was during the previous year (1609), that Sir 
George Somers, being on a voyage from England 
with emigrants and stores for the perishing colony of 
Virginia, was wrecked on the Bermuda Islands — the 
*' still vexed BermootJies " of Shakespeare — the fabled 

(20) 



o% 



. < 





ISLES OF SHOALS, 21 

island of ambergris, and pearls and gems — the beauti- 
ful realm of sprite and fairy ; of " sounds and sweet 
airs that give delight, but hurt not — " where the 
great Master has laid the scene of the " Tempest." 

Upon this island, Sir George built a " new cedar ^ 
ship," though without any " iron at all, but one bolt in 
her keele," and embarking in her, succeeded next year 
in reaching Jamestown, where he found the colony in 
sore distress for lack of provisions. Sir George at once 
volunteered, accompanied by Su' Samuel Argal, to 
make a voyage back to the Bermudas in quest of 
supplies. Sir George's pinnace was named the " Pa- 
tience " — 'the same cedar ship he had built at Ber- 
muda. 

For days and weeks did the frail barks encounter 
"a most terrible and vehement storm, which was a 
taile of the West India Horacano," as though the 
magic wand of Prospero had again for some wise pur- 
pose put the " wild waters in a roar." But the " Pa- 
tience " had been constructed in an enchanted isle, and 
seemed to possess a charmed life. She and her consort, 
named the " Discovery, " bore away at last towards 
the north, and took refuge among the islands along the 
coast of Maine, 

" Not L hair blemished, 
But fresher than before.'* 



22 ISLES OF SHOALS. 

The ves-sels then became separated, — the " Pa- 
tience " at lencrth reachlno; her destmation at the 
Bermudas, while Argal spent the whole summer in 
cruising and fishing up and down the coast of Maine. 
The account of his voyages to and fro the gulf, to be 
found in PurcJias' Pilgrims, puts it out of doubt, 
that the intrepid Sir Samuel Argal must have fre- 
quently, during that summer, made a harbor at the 
Isles of Shoals. He returned to Virginia, at the 
close of the season, in good safety, heavily freighted 
with fish. 

Sir Samuel's experience, acquired in this enforced 
voyage to New England, w^as to have an important 
influence upon her future history. In 1613, he re- 
newed his visit to our coast, as a pilot and convoy 
to a fleet of ten or eleven fishing vessels, which set 
out from Virginia, according to their yearly custom, 
for our waters. On the arrival of the squadron at 
Pemaquid, he received from the Indians the start- 
ling intelligence, that the French were again making 
encroachments upon English territory, by the recent 
settlement of the Jesuits at jSaint Sauveur on Mount 
Desert. Argal at once fell upon that settlement, de- 
stroyed the buildings in progress of erection, killed 
one of the Jesuit priests, named Gilbert du Thet, 
shipped away to France a portion of the prisoners 



ISLES OF SHOALS. 23 

and carried off the remainder to Jamestown. The 
same summer, under the instructions of the Governor 
of Virginia, he returned to Acadia, and destroyed 
all the French settlements at St. Croix and Port 
Royal, with such thoroughness, indeed, that " he 
even caused the names of de Monts and other cap- 
tains, and the fleurs de lys, to be effaced with pick 
and chisel from the massive stone at Port Royal, on 
which they had been engraved." A few of the home- 
less French took refuge in the friendly wigwams of the 
Micmac tribes, but their national power was extin- 
guished in Acadia for many years.^ 

Thus was New Eno-land ao;ain rescued from an 
impending French invasion ; the first time by the 
capricious indifference of de Monts and Champlain ; 
the second time, if we may indulge the fancy, by the 
friendly help of the mighty magician of the Bermudas. 
His prophetic spirit, perhaps, descried far away in the 
north the peril to which New England was exposed, 
and in his own deep counsel he evoked the " horicano," 
wnich drove her champion. Sir Samuel Argal, into the 



^ For authorities concerning the story of Sir Samuel Argal, see 
Relations des Jesuits (Quebec Ed.) p. 46, et seqr^ Smith's Gen, 
Hist, Vol. II., pp. 6-112, ei seq.\ Murdock's Hist, of Nova 
Scotia, Vol. I., p. 55, et seq.\ Champlain's Voyages; Purcbas 
(lis Pilgrims, pp. 1733, 1734, et seq. 



24 ISLES OF SHOALS. 

waters of the Gulf of Maine, in season for her protec- 
tion. Is not Prosperous motive, indeed, suggested in 
his reply to his daughter ? 

"Miranda. And now, I pray you, sir, 

(For still 'tis beating in my mind) your reasons 
For raising this sea-storm ? 

**Prospero. Know thus far forth — 

By accident, most strange, bountiful Fortune 

(Now my dear lady) bath mine enemies 

Brought to that shore; and by my prescience 

I find my zenith doth depend upon 

A most auspicious star ; whose influence 

1£ now I court not, but omit, my fortunes 

Will ever after droop. — Here cease more questions." 




^^^^,i 




SMITH'S MAP OK 




W ENGLAND. 



CHAPTER III. 

IT was in the following year, 1614, that the Isles 
of Shoals were visited by another of the mar- 
vellous men of that heroic age — Captain John 
Smith. 

He came out in command of two London ships, 
upon a fishing and trading voyage, and arrived at 
Monhegan Island in April 1614. 

" Our plot was," writes the captain; " there to 
take whales, and also to make trials of a mine of 
gold and copper; if these failed, fish and furs were 
then our refuge to make ourselves sauers howsoever ; 
we found this whale fishing a costly conclusion ; we 
saw many, and spent much time in chasing them, 
but could not kill any, they being a kind of Juhartes, 
and not the whale that yields fins and oil, as we 
expected; for our gold, it was rather the masters 
device to get a voyage that projected it, than any 

(25) 



26 ISLES OF SHOALS. 

knowledge he had at all of any such matter." Mean- 
time, while the crew fished, Smith and eight sailors 
in a small pinnace, very much after the manner of 
his great predecessor, Champlain, ranged the whole 
New England coast as far as Cape Cod, and trucked 
successfully with the natives for peltries. Return- 
ing thence to his vessels about Monhegan, he sailed 
for home on the 18th of July. 

Shortly after his arrival in England, he published 
his interesting account of our coast, which, by the 
leave of Prince Charles, he named JVeiv England^ 
and accompanied it with the chart, a fac-simile of a 
later edition of which is prefixed to this chapter. 

"Among the remarkablest Isles and mountains for 
landmarks," writes Capt. Smith in his "Description 
of New England," " are Smiths Isles, a heape together, 
none neare them, against Accominticus." 

The islands referred to were the present Isles of 
Shoals. The great navigator chose, out of his vast dis- 
coveries in the New World, these wild and picturesque 
rocks to perpetuate his name, and, as we shall here- 
after see, selected the headland and islands in view 
to the south, to keep the world in memory of some 
of his most gallant achievements. 

A few years after his return to London, the numer- 
ous patentees of New England formed a 'scheme 



ISLES OF SHOALS' 27 

to divide up its territory into twenty parts, and cast 
lots among tliemselves for the different portions. "But 
no lot for me," writes the Captain sorrowfully, " but 
Smiths Isles, which are a many of barren rocks, the most 
overgrowne with such shrubs and shai'p w^hins you 
can hardly pass them, without either grass or wood, 
but three or four short shrubby old cedars." 

We thus perceive, that Admiral John Smith was 
not only the first to name these Islets, but also that 
he claimed to be Lord and Proprietor of them, until 
the scheme of rafflino; for New Eno;land was aban- 
doned. 

We pause for a moment over the memory of the 
gallant Captain, New England's earhest and best 
friend, who by his untiring zeal, probably contribu- 
ted more than any other man to the settlement of 
her shores and islands. 

His career was as marvellous as the fabled exploits 
of Sir Launcelot, in quest of the San Graal, or of 
Sir Roland, who winded his horn at Roncevalles. 
Stung with a spirit of adventure, he left his home 
with ten shillings in his pocket, while yet a boy, 
and served several years in the wars of the Low 
Countries. On his return to Scotland, he narrowly 
escaped death in the wreck of his ship on Holy 
Isle, near Berwick. Then, for a time, he retired 



28 ISLES OF SHOALS, 

into the midst of a dense forest, and dwelt*' in a 
secluded pavillion, built of bouglis," where he de- 
voted himself to the study of Marcus Aurelius and 
Macchiavelli's " Art of War." When his restless 
s])irit had wearied of a hermit's life, he returned 
to thu continent, and after encountering many perils, 
reached Marseilles, where he embarked for Italy. 

On this voyage, the ship fell into bad weather, 
and in the hope of appeasing the wrath of Neptune, 
the superstitious sailors threw our unfortunate hero 
into the Mediterranean. Again, however, he es- 
caped death, having been picked up by a couple 
of ships from Britanny, with whom he enhsted, and 
shortly afterwards engaged, in their service, in a 
bloody but victorious fight with a Venetian argosy. 
After that, he made his way into Hungary, and 
took service under the German Emperor, in his 
wars against the Turk. Splendid feats of valor 
did he there perform ; his fame resounded over 
that far quarter of the world. But at last, he 
fell prisoner to the Paynim, and was carried cap- 
tive into the Steppes of Crym-Tartary. Escaping 
thence, he made his way back to Europe, and carried 
lis free lance into the wars of Africa; ere long,- we 
find him again at sea, wliere, with his single ship, he 
fought triumphantly against ^ pair of Spanish men-of- 



ISLES OF SHOALS. 29 

vfox^ and returned with his prizes to EngUind. Hav- 
ing thus performed, in all the three quarters of the 
known earth, such "doughty deeds of high emprise," 
as would put to shame the yery knights of the Round 
Table, though with such modesty, says one of his. 
eulogists, that he deemed all his exploits no more 
than " to go to bed or drink," the redoubtable cap- 
tain entered upon his career in the New World. His 
valorous deeds in Virginia, of which plantation he 
was one of the earliest and most efficient promoters, 
are familiar to all Americans, and his rescue from 
Powhattan by the love-stricken Pocahontas is one of 
the staples of American story. 

Some years after, in 1614, he came over to New 
England and landed upon " Smitlis Isles,^^ now the 
" Isles of Slioals ;" and the next year (1615), hav- 
ing resolved to take possession and permanently settle 
the new country, he sailed from Plymouth for that 
purpose with two ships, laden with emigrants and 
supplies, but was captured by a squadron of French 
pirates, and for a long time was compelled^ as he as- 
sures us, to assist them in many a buccaneering enter- 
prise on the high seas, until at last, in the midst of a 
terrible tempest in the Bay of Biscay, he deserted 
them in an open boat, and made good his escape all 
alone to Rochelle, while the pirate ship he had abau- 



80 



ISLES OF SHOALS. 



cloned, was totally wrecked in tlie storm, and nearly 
all her crew perished.^ Then he returned to England, 
where he had long been given up for dead, and there 
he wrote the strange story of his life, discoveries, and 
exploits, as he expresses it, " witJi his own hayidJ'^ 

Except for this untoward capture by pirates, Cap- 
tain John Smith might have been the father and 
founder of New Hampshire and Maine, as he long 
had been and long continued to be their warmest and 
most efficient friend. 

1 Smith's letter to Bacon, Eng. State Papers (Colonial), Vol. 
J., No. 42, and Gen. Hist., pcn^shn. 




CHAPTER IV. 

WE should hardly have felt justified in sketch- 
ing here, even thus briefly, the strange adven- 
tures of this last of the Paladins and Lord of the 
Shoals, had not our hero seen fit to record some of the 
most gallant and stirring incidents in liis career upon 
the very headland and rocks within view from his 
own Islets. 

During the wars in Hungary, where Smith's sword, 
as we have seen, played so bright a part, it chanced 
that the town of Kegall was besieged by the Christian 
army, and long time stoutly defended by the Moslem. 
At leno;th, when the sieo;e had become tedious and 
monotonous, one Lord Turbashaw, in the words of 
the chronicle, " to delight the ladies of Regall, who 
did long to see some court-like pastime, did defie 
any captain in the German army to combat Vt'ith him 

(31) 



32 ISLES OF SHOALS. 

for Ills head." The gallant Captain Smith, tliough 
but a small, slight man, accepted the Turk's chal- 
lenge. 

'^ Truce being made for that time," continues the 
c*hronicle, " the Rampiers all beset with fair dames 
iwA men in arms, the Christians in Battalio, Turba- 
shaw, with a noise of Howboyes, entered the field 
well mounted and armed; on his shoulders were 
fixed a pair of great wings, compacted of eagle 
feathers, within a ridge of silver, richly garnished 
with gold and precious stones ; a Janizary before 
him, bearing his lance, on each side another leading 
his horse ; where long he stayed not, ere Smith, with 
a noise of trumpets, only a page bearing his lance, 
passing by him with a courteous salute, took his 
ground with such good success, that at the sound 
of the charge, he passed the Turke thorow the 
sight of his beaver, face, head, and all, that he 
fell dead to the ground, where alighting and un- 
bracing his helmet he cut off his head, and the 
Turkes tooke his body, and so he returned without 
any hurt at all." 

The next day, ^' a vowed friend" o£ the slain Tur- 
bashaw, named Grualgo, " enraged with madnesse^^ 
sent Smith a '•''particular challenge to regaine hii 
friend's head, or lose his own." Suffice it to say, the 



ISLES OF SHOALS. 38 

defiance was accepted, the tournament was held, and 
the brave httle captain was rewarded with a second 
Paynim head, that of the grim Grualgo. 

And now Smith, elated with his successes, sent 
back a cartel to the ladies of Regall, '' that he was 
not so much enamored of their two champions^ heads,^^ 
but that if any Turk would come to the lists to 
redeem them, such Turk might carry back Smith's 
head also, " if he could ivinne ity 

Upon this, still a third champion of Turkish beauty 
and chivalry entered the lists. He saw no less than 
the stout, stark. Bonny Mulgro himself. We may 
be sure, the captain's heart rejoiced to encounter 
the infidel bravo. At it they went, and after a 
desperate conflict, the head of that truculent Mos- 
lem was added to those of Turbashaw and Grualoro. 

These exploits soon reached the ears of Duke 
Sigismund, and in guerdon of Smith's bravery he 
granted him, by patent under his princely hand 
and seal, " Three Turks heads in a shield., for his coat 
of arms.''^ Smith ever after bore these arms, and 
was thus constantly reminded of the exploits by 
which he had won tUem. Accordingly, when in 
1614, he came out to the Isles of Shoals, one of the 
first names he conferred upon the neighboring locali- 
ties, was that of the Three Turks'* Heads., which he 
3 



34 ISLES OF SHOALS. 

gave to the three rocky islets at the head of Cape 
Ann, in view from the Shoals, of a clear day. 

In these Turkish wars, however, fortune at last 
played false with the Christians. At the battle of 
Rottenton,^ the army of the latter was routed, and 
the intrepid captain was taken prisoner, and sold 
as a slave to the Bashaw Bogall. The Bashaw, 
who chanced to be at the time enamored of the 
fair Princess Charatza Tragabigzanda, sent him in 
chains to Constantinople, as a rich present to his 
mistress ; arrived, there, however, the captain found 
ex(ieeding favor in the eyes of the Oriental beauty. 
His chains were speedily stricken off, and in order 
to remove him from danger, she sent him to the 
care of her brother, the Prince of Nalbrits, a province 
in Crym-Tartary, on the Black Sea. But the brother, 
resenting his sister's affection for the Christian slave, 
treated him so harshly, that, at last. Smith " beat out 
the Timur's brains with a threshing bat," and don- 
ning the slain man's apparel, escaped after infinite 
perils and fatigues, into Europe. 

But the gallant captain never could forget the 
devotion of the lovely Princess Tragabigzanda, an( 
u]3on his arrival, many years after, at the Shuals, 

^ In German, Rotherthunn, in MagyaTjVerestoronj/ (both whicL 
names signify Red Tower), a pass in the Carpathian Mountains 
much used by the Turks in their invasions of Hungary. 



ISLES OF SHOALS, 35 

he conferred upon the Cape in view, the cherished 
name of Cape Tragahigzanda. 

Captain Smith, afterwards appointed Admiral of 
New England, never beheld his beloved Islands after 
his visit of 1614. Even the names he conferred 
upon our coast were doomed to be soon forgotten. 
Cape Tragahigzanda in a few years became Cape 
Ann ; the *' Three Turks' Heads " were translated 
into the " Salvages,^^ and in 1623, the rightful appel- 
lation of " Smithes Isles " was supplanted among 
the English, by that of the ''Isles of SlioaW — the 
last English writer to stand by the honest name, 
being Edward Winslcw, of New Plymouth, who, 
under date of 1623, describes the plantation, begun 
that year at the Piscataqua, by David Thompson, 
as being " near Smith's Isles." 

The more constant Dutch, however, maintained 
their allegiance to the admiral for half a century 
later. On the quaint chart of " Novi Belgii " con- 
tained in Montanus' " Nieuwe onbekende Weereld," 
published at Amsterdam in 1671, and translated by 
John Ogleby, Cape Ann is still called Cape Tra- 
gahigzanda ; the three rocks, at its point, the 3 TurcJcs 
hoofden, and the Isles of Shoals, " Smifs Eylant^ 
As applied to the rocks themselves, the name of 
John Smith has long since passed into oblivion, unless, 



36 ISLES OF SHOALS. 

as we may fondly hope, it lingers in the little cove 
at the south-west angle of Appledore, which is stilJ 
called SrnWs Cove, 

Captain Smith died in London, in 1631, at the age 
of 52, and was buried there in St. Sepulchre's Church. 
Upon his monument is cut the following inscription : — 

" To the living memory of his deceased friend, Capt. John 
Smith, some time Governor of Virginia and Admiral of New 
England, wLo departed this life the 21st of June, 1631. 

ACCORDIAMUS, VINCERE EST VIVERE. 

Here lies one conquered, that hath conquered kings, 

Subdued large territories, and done things 

Which to the world impossible would seem, 

But that the truth is held in more esteem. 

Shall I report his former service done, 

In honor of his God and Christendom ? 

How that he did divide from Pagans three 

Their heads and lives, types of his chivalry; 

For which great service, in that climate done, 

Brave Sigismundus (King of Hungarlon) 

Did give him, as a coat of arms to wear 

Those conquered heads, got by his sword and spear? 

Or shall I tell of his adventures, since 

Done in Virginia, that large continent? 

How that he subdued kings unto his yoke. 

And made those heathen flee as wind doth smoke ; 

And made their land, being of so large a station 

A habitation for our Christian nation. 

Where God is glorified, their wants supplied, 

Which, for necessaries, might have died ? 

But what avails his conquest, now he lies 

Interr'd in earth, a prey to worms and flies ? 



ISLES OF SHOALS. 37 

O may his soul in sweet Elysium sleep, 
Until the Keeper, that all souls doth keep, 
Return to judgment ; and that after thence, 
With angels he may have his recompence."^ 

A neat marble monument, erected some years ago, 
on the southerly summit of Star Island by several pub- 
lic-spirited citizens of New Hampshire, puts the sum- 
mer visitor in mind of the departed hero and of his 
long and intimate connection with these, his ^'heape of 
rocks, none neare them against Accominticus.** 

^ 3 Jesse's Hist, of London, 231. 




CHAPTER V. 

SOME five years after the memorable expedi- 
tion of Admiral John Smith to New England, 
there is evidence,^ that our coasts were visited, about 
L619, by those two great men, who subsequently 
became the fathers and founders of the Provinces 
of New Hampshire and Maine. John Mason, then 
Governor of New Foundland, and Sir Ferdinando 
Gorges made, that summer, it is said, a cruise of 
discovery along the New England coast, and on their 
return to London, presented a report of their voyage 
to the King. 

That report is not now extant, but from the general 
course of their voyage, as well as the strong interest 
both those gentlemen afterward took in the Isles of 
Shoals, there is reason to believe that they failed 
not to pay them a visit. 

Upon the return of these renowned men to Eng 

^ NeAv England Papers (Eng. Pub. Recs.) Vol. 42, No. 139. 

(38) 



ISLES OF SHOALS. 39 

land, evidently pleased with the aspect of the country 
they had visited, Gorges, who had been for several 
years a merchant adventurer to our coasts, set about 
the colonization of New Eno;land w^ith renewed ardor. 
Mason, upon the termination of his office in New 
Foundland, entered into his friend's project with 
equal zeal. Gorges, the next year, 1620, obtained 
from His Majesty a new and enlarged patent for the 
extensive territory between the 40th and 48th parallels 
of latitude, incorporating forty noblemen, knights, 
and gentlemen, under the title of " The Council es- 
tablished at Plymouth in the County of Devon, for 
planting, ruling and governing New England in 
America." This charter is the foundation of the 
numerous subsequent patents by which New Eng- 
land was first parcelled out, and its settlements and 
colonies located and limited.^ 

Shortly after this great charter of New England had 
passed the seals. Mason and Gorges, " the projectors and 
j^rosecutors of still greater designs," procured of the 
Plymouth Council, August 10th, 1622, a sub-patent, 
for all the country between the Merrimac and the 
Sagadahock, under the title of the Province of 
Maine.2 It is doubtful, however, whether any set- 

^ Gorges' Brief Narrative, p. 32. 
2 1 New Hamp. Prov. Pap., p. 10. 



40 ISLES OF SHOALS, 

fclements in New Hampshire or Maine were made 
under this Patent. 

The next yeai', 1623, the Council of Plymoutli, 
having projected the estabhshment of a permanent 
general government over all New England, sent 
out Robert Gorges, son of Sir Ferdinando, " an 
active, enterprising genius, and a brilliant officer in 
the late Venetian war," as Eoyal Governor of the 
country. His council was to consist, among others, 
of Christopher Levett, who had already arrived in 
New England, and was now visiting David Thomp^ 
son, at Odiorne's Point on the coast of New Hamp- 
shire. 

The reign of Governor Robert Gorges was, how- 
ever, very brief. He returned to England the next 
year, and the attempt to estabhsh any general govern- 
ment over New England was for the time abandoned. 
The reason of this sudden change of policy, on 
the part of the Grand Council of Plymouth, is 
worthy a moment's attention, on account of its impor- 
tant political significance, as well as the influence 
our poor fishermen exercised in the matter. 

The Council, enjoying, by the terms of their charter, 
a monopoly of the fisheries in the " adjoining seas " of 

1 Seethe Charter, 1 Hazard, State Pap., p. 103. 



ISLES OF SHOALS. 41 

New England, with a right to " take ana surprise" 
anj sliips, that presumed to visit the said seas, " unless 
it be with the license of said Council, under the 
common seal," promulgated an order, shortly after 
their incorporation, imposing a charge of five pounds 
sterling upon every thirty tons of shipping engaged 
in the American fisheries, as the cost of such neces- 
sary license.^ The ostensible purpose of this license 
system was, by a careful scrutiny into the character 
and previous conduct of all applicants, to protect the 
poor American savages from the cruelties and frauds 
practiced on them by disorderly fishermen.^ It 
was urged " that the mischiefs already sustained 
from these disorderly persons are inhuman and in- 
tolerable. That, in their manners and behaviour, 
they are worse than the very savages, openly abus- 
ing their women, teaching their men to drink drunk, 
to swear and blaspheme the name of God, and in 
their drunken humor to fall together by the ears, 
thereby giving them occasion to seek revenge. Be- 
sides that, they cozen and abuse the savages in 
trading and trafficking, selling them salt covered with 
butter, instead of so much butter, and the like cozen- 
ages and deceits, whereby to bring the planters and 



1 2 Smith's Gen. Hist., p. 263. 
a Gorges' Brief Nar., p. 38. 



42 ISLES OF SHOALS, 

all the nation into contempt and disgrace."^ But the 
real design of the order, notwithstanding this specious 
pretext, was to raise a revenue for the use of the 
Grand Council itself, and it was therefore met at 
the outset with loud complaints from the fishermen, 
who had for so many years enjoyed the absolute free- 
dom of the New England seas. 

The Commons of England, who were just at that 
time warming up to that determined struggle with the 
roval prerogative, which culminated by-and-by in the 
Great Rebelhon, seized eagerly upon the present op- 
portunity, to make a stand against King James. Par- 
liament convened in June, 1621, and proceeded at 
once to the examination of the national grievances. 
In the very head and front of them all, they set the 
odious fishery monopoly of the Council of Plymouth. 
The Commons then summoned Sir Ferdinando Gorges 
to defend the patent. 

" The whole House being dissolved into a com- 
mittee," writes Gorges, " Sir Edward Coke being in 
the chair, I was called for to the bar, where after some 
space, it pleased him to tell me, that the House under- 
stood, that there was a patent granted to me and divers 
other noble persons therein nominated, for the estab- 

^ Gorges' Brief Nar., p. 38. 



ISLES OF SHOALS. 48 

lishing of a colony in New England. Tliis (as it 
seems) was a grievance of the Commonwealth, and 
so complained of, in respect of many particulars 
therein contained, contrary to the laws and privileges 
of the subjects, as also that it was a monopoly."^ 

Sir Ferdinando defended the charter at the bar 
of the House with pertinacity and skill, but the Com- 
mons, under the leadership of Coke, Selden, and Pym, 
stood resolute against this and all other monopolies, 
in defiance of the overbearing and supercilious reproofs 
of King James. 

At length, in the winter of 1622, despairing of 
any concession on the part of the House, the King 
dissolved the Parliament in a rage, and committed 
Sir Edward Coke, Selden, Pym and others to prison.^ 

The Commons had thus failed in their effort to 
vacate the great charter of New England, the fishing 
monopoly still remained legally in the hands of the 
patentees, and the next spring, (1623), the bolder 
of their number determined to enforce it. Tliey 
sent out, accordingly, Robert Gorges as Governor, 
and Frances West as Admiral, to make their mouop- 
oly effectual. 

But the confidence of many of the patentees and 

^ Gorges' Brief Nar. , p. 34. 
2 5 Hume, p. 133. 



44 ISLES OF SHOALS. 

adventurers in the stability of their monopoly had 
been shaken by the commotion. Many of them Avith- 
drew altoo-ether from New Eno-land affairs : the fisher- 
men from whom the revenue was to be derived, " grew 
so discontented," says Capt. Smith, " that few or 
none would goe,"^ and as to the few who did go, 
Admiral West found it as difficult to collect fines of 
them, as of the cod-fish in the ocean. Hence the 
Grand Council of Plymouth, deeming it the part of 
prudence to yield for a time to the popular storm, 
withdrew their Governor and Admiral from New 
England, a few months after their arrival, and aban- 
doned their project until a more favorable season. 

The scheme, however, of a General Governor and a 
State religion for all New England was a deeply cher- 
ished one with the Grand Council of Plymouth until 
its dissolution, and was persisted in by its leading 
spirits. Sir Ferdinando Gorges and Capt. John Mason, 
to the last. 

Robert Gorges died in 1624, shortly after his re- 
turn from New England ; and Captain Christopher 
Levett, already mentioned as one of Gorges' Coun- 
cil, was appointed to succeed him as General Gov- 
ernor of New England ; upon his death, Captain 
Walter Neale, of the Piscataqua, was commissioned 
to succeed Levett in that office. 

1 Smith's Gen. IIi:^t., p. 263. 



ISLES OF SHOALS. 45 

Shortly after Neale's retirement from tlie country 
in 1633, Sir Ferdinando Gorges himself accepted 
the post and made preparations to emigrate to the 
new world, while a warrant was issued in 1635 for 
a commission to Mason, as Vice-Admiral. 

But for the latter's death at that time, it is alto- 
gether probable that a successful effort to found a 
general government under Gorges and Mason would 
have been speedily made. Winthrop seems to have 
feared such an attempt. He says : " The last win- 
ter Capt. Mason died. He was the chief mover in 
all the attempts against us, and was to have sent 
the General Governor, and for this end was provid- 
ing shipping ; but the Lord, in mercy, taking him 
awayj all the business fell on sleep." ^ 
1 Winthrop, Vol. I., p. 187. 







CHAPTER VI. 

AMONG the chief adherents of the Gorges 
family, in this futile attempt to found a general 
government for New England, was Capt. Christopher 
Levett, "his Majesty's Woodward of Somersetshire, 
and one of the Council of New England," and as 
he describes himself, " an ancient traveller by sea.'' 

Capt. Levett, having procured for himself, the 
previous year, a patent for six thousand acres of land, 
to be located at his own pleasure upon the vacant 
territory of New England,^ set sail from England 
early in the year 1623, in a vessel bound for the 
Isles of Shoals, and arrived there the same spring. 
He describes the group as follows : ^ 

" The first place I set my foot upon in New Eng- 
land was the Isles of Shoulds, being islands in the 
sea, about tvvo leagues from the main. 

" Upon these islands I neither could see one g.ood 
timber tree, nor so much ground as to make a 
garden. 

1 English Calendar of State Papers, Colonial, p. 45. 

2Levett's Voyage, 2 Maine Hist. Coll., p. 72. 

(46) 



ISLES OF SHOALS. 4T 

" The place is found to be a good fishing phice for 
six ships, but more cannot well be there, for want 
of convenient stage room, as this year's experience 
hath proved. 

" The harbor is but indifferent good. Upon these 
islands are no savages at all." 

Shortly afterward, Capt. Levett crossed over to 
the plantation just begun by David Thompson at 
Odiorne's Point, (called by Levett, Pannaway,) the 
first settlement on the mainland of New Hampshire. 
Here he remained about a month, until the arrival of 
Governor Robert Gorges, from whom Levett learned 
that he had been appointed a Councillor to the new 
Government of New England. 

Levett was a staunch churchman, as were also his 
friends, the Governor and Admiral West ; and in 
furtherance of the scheme to establish a general gov- 
ernment over New England, he seems to have been 
specially charged with the founding of the Episcopal 
church. The first step to that end, according to 
churcb usage, was the creation of some citT/, with all 
the pomp and paraphernalia of city government, as a 
suitable Episcopal see ; and accordingly Captain Levett, 
for the purpose of selecting the most favorable site for 
the establishment of tlie projected metropohs, made 
a cruise in two boats, with all his company, along 



48 ISLES OF SHOALS. 

the coast of Maine, as far as Cape Manwagait, 
now Bootlibay, putting in on the voyage at a 
place called " Quack," which was at that time 
under the government of an Indian sagamore, 
named " Cogawesco." 

The peninsula of Quack, (now called Portland), 
seemed in the captain's eyes a preferable site for his 
projected plantation, to any other he had visited; 
and, accordingly, after sailing as far east as Booth- 
bay, he resolved to return and settle there ; 
especially because, as Levett writes, " Cogawesco, 
the sagamore of Casco and Quack, told me if I 
would set down at either of those places, I should 
be very welcome." 

" The next day," the captain continues, " the wind 
came fair, and I sailed to Quack or York, with the 
King, Queen and Prince, bow and arrows, dog and 
kettle in my boat, his noble attendance rowing by us 
in their canoe." 

" And thus," he concludes, " after many dangers, 
much labor, and great charge, I have obtained a 
place of habitation in New England, where t 
have built a house and fortified it in a reasonable 
good fashion, strong enough against such enemies as 
are those savage people." 

At the beginning of summer, Levett made ready 
to return into England, in furtherance of his enter- 



ISLES OF SHOALS. 49 

prise, leaving ten of his men in his garrison house 
at Quack, until his proposed return the next year. 
He was visited before his' departure by the great sag- 
amores of the country, who entreated him to still 
remain among them. 

" They asked me," writes Levett, " why I would be 
gone out of then- country ? I was glad to tell them 
my wife would not come thither, except I did fetch 
her; they bid a pox on her hounds (a phrase they 
have learned and do use when they curse), and wished 
me to beat her; I told them no, for then our God 
would be angry; then they run out upon her with 
evil terms, and wished me to let her alone and take 
another. I told them our God would be more angry 
for that. Again they bid me beat her, repeating it 
often and very angerly, but I answered no, that was 
not the English fashion. Then they told me that I 
and my wife and children with all my friends should 
be heartily welcome into that country, at any time, 
'ea, a hundredth thousand times, yea, moucldche^ 
inoiichicJce, which is a word of weight." 

" And Somerset told me that his son, (who was born 
whilst 1 was in the country, and whom he would needs 
have me to name,) and mine would be brothers, and 
that there should be mouchicJce Zegamatch (that is 
friendship) between them, until Tanto carried them to 
his wigwam (that is, until they died)."^ 
1 2 Maine Hist. Col., p. 72. 



50 ISLES OF SHOALS. 

Despite these moving arguments and entreaties, 
Captain Levett sailed for England, and on his ar- 
rival took energetic measures to promote his planta- 
tion in New England, which, as we have seen, he had 
named " York." On the 26th June, 1623, he pro- 
cured a royal letter to the Lord President of York, 
England, recommending the plantation to the especial 
favor of that ancient city and county, after which the 
peninsula of " Quack " had been named. But the dis- 
turbed condition of England at this period compelled 
Captain Levett to give over his design for several 
years, and his fortified habitation at Casco Bay was 
perhaps deserted by its garrison. 

When war broke out with France and Spain, shortly 
after his return to England, Captain Levett entered 
the Royal Navy, where he seems to have served in 
important posts, and with distinction. Towards the 
close of the war, Levett resumed with vigor his design 
of founding a plantation in New England, and in 
February, 162^, having been commissioned General 
Governor of New England, he was authorized to raise 
contributions throughout England, towards the ex- 
pense of founding his proposed colony.^ 

Captain Levett's enterprise, however, took no effect 
and makes no further appearance in the early history 
of the Isles of Shoals. 

1 See Appendix No. 1. 



ISLES OF SHOALS. 51 

Captain Levett's brief description of the Shoals il- 
lustrates the importance of that station, even so early 
as 1623. When we consider, that each of the six 
fishing vessels at the Islands, while he was there, 
carried at least fifty men, as he informs us was the 
custom, and that the shores were inconveniently 
crowded with fishing stages, we perceive tliat, even 
before the first settlement of the mainland, our group 
of Islets was already the scene of a busier activity, 
than any other spot in New England, north of New 
Plymouth. 

It was the usual course of the fishery, in those days, 
for about one-third of each crew to live ashore, and at- 
tend to the drying and curing of the catch, while the 
remamder, in their pinnace and shallops, cruised about 
the neighboring ocean in quest of mackerel or cod. 
Shelter for the large number of shoremen out of 
these six ships would, of course, be essential, and 
numerous cabins, however rude, must have already 
been built for their accommodation. 

The " fishing stages," which Capt. Levett speaks of, 
,vere floating platforms, projecting from the margin 
cf the Islands into the waters of the harbor, and the 
rocks at the shore end were roofed over by an open shed, 
used for the splitting and salting of the fish, which were 
afterwards dried upon the flakes in the rear. These 



52 ISLES OF SHOALS. 

structures, which are still used in Newfoundland, 
were somewhat expensive, and convenient stage- 
room for their erection upon the generally steep 
shores of the Islands was difficult to obtain. For 
many years, on this account, the stage-room and 
fishing stages formed the most valued part of the 
islanders' property. The circumstance that the har- 
bor was inconveniently crowded with stages at the 
time of Capt. Levett's visit, conveys a lively idea of 
the extent of business already transacted there. 

The Islands enjoyed, indeed, singular advantages for 
the prosecution of the fisheries. 

" In March, April, May and half June," says the 
Lord of the Isles, in his own quaint language, " here 
is cod in abundance. The salvages compare the store 
in the sea with the hairs upon their heads, and surely 
there are an incredible abundance of them upon the 
coast. Then, too, young boies and girles, salvages or 
any other, be they never such idles, may turne, carry, 
or return a fish, without either shame or any great 
pain. He is very idle, that is past twelve years of age, 
and cannot do so much, and she is very old, that can- 
not spin a threede to make engins to catch a fish. 

" He is a very bad fisher, that cannot kill in one day 
with his hook and line one, two, or three hundred 
?ods. And is it not pretty sport to pull up two pence 



ISLES OF SHOALS 58 

six pence, and twelve pence, as fast as you can hale 
and veare a line ? And what sport doth yield a more 
pleasing content and less hurt or charge, than angling 
with a hook, and crossing the sweete Ayre from He to 
He over the silent streams of a calm sea ? wherein the 
most curious may find pleasure, profit and content. "^ 

The codfish caught in the seas about the Islands 
were larger and finer than those brought from 
the Banks of Newfoundland, " six or seven making a 
quintal, whereas they have fifteen of the latter of the 
same weio-ht."^ And besides the cod, "there is," 
continues old William Wood, " all manner of otbftt 
fish, as followeth : — 

" The king of waters, the sea shouldering Whale, 
The snuffing Grampus, with the oily Seale, 
The storm-presaging Porpus, Herring-Hogge, 
Line shearing Sharke, the Catfish, and Sea Dogg^, 
The scale-fenc'd Sturgeon, cony-mouthed Ilollibut, 
The flounsing Sammon, Codfish, Greedigut, 
Cole, Haddocke, Haicke, the Thornebacke, and t\i<^. 
Whose slimie outside makes him selde in date, 
The stately Basse, old Neptune's fleeting post, 
That tides it out and in fi'om sea to coast. 
Consorting Herrings, and the bony Shad, 
Big bellied Ale wives, Mackrills richly clad 
A™i rainbow colors, the Frostfish and the Smelt 
As good as ever lady Gustus felt; 
The spotted Lamprons, Ecxcs, the Lamperies, 

1 2 Smith's Gen. Hist., pp. 188, 201. 
- Wood's New England rrospcct, p. 35. 



54 ISLES OF SHOALS. 

Tliat seeke fresh water brooks with Argus eyes ; 
These waterie villagers with thousands more, 
Doe passe and repasse neare the verdant shore."(i) 

In addition to all these advantages for the fisheries, 
the Isles of Shoals enjoyed in their climate a very 
marked advantage over other parts of the New Eng- 
land coast, in the curing of their fish for the market. 
The dryness and salubrity of their atmosphere, to 
which we have referred in the Introduction, enabled 
the fishermen to prepare by a process of alternate dry- 
ing and sweating, without salt, the famous dun or 
dumb fish, which could not be rivalled elsewhere. 
The market price of these fish was three or four times 
that of tlie Poor John and Haberdine, made at New- 
foundland. Within the present century, we find the 
Labrador cod selling in our market at $2.40 per quin- 
tal, while the Shoals-cured dun-fish brought fS.OO per 
quintal.^ 

The superiority of the Gulf of Maine, in respect to 
the fisheries, over the Grand Banks of New Found- 
land, whither great fleets of fishing craft had been 
swarming for nearly a century, and gathering vast 
wealth out of its waters, is clearly pointed out by 
Captain Smith in his letter of 1618, written to the 
^reat Lord Bacon. 

^ Wood's New England Prospect, p. 37. 
2 rortsmoiitli Journal, May, 1822. 



ISLES OF SHOALS. 55 

" New England," he writes, " hath much advantage 
to serve all Europe farr cheaper than they can (at the 
Grand Banks, etc.), who have neither wood salt nor 
foode, but at a great rate, nothing to help them, but 
what they carry in their shipps 2 or 300 leagues from 
tlieir habitacon, noe Port or harbor, but the mayne 
sea. Wee the fishing at our dores & the helpe of the 
land for wood water fruites, fowle, corne, or what 
we want to refresh us when we list." " That all 
sortes of Timber for shipping is most plentifully 
there, all those w^^ retourned can testifye." " Now 
if a shippe can gaine 59 or 60 <£ in the 100, only by 
fishing, spending as much tyme in going & coming as 
in staying there, were I there planted, seeing the ffish 
in their seasons serueth the most part of the yeare 
and with a little labour I could make all the salt I 
need use, I can conceive noe reason to distrust, but 
double and treple their gaines, that are at all the for- 
mer charge & can fish but two moneths." ^ 

By reason of all these and other advantages of the 
Isles of Shoals as a fishing station, they must have 
been, we may reasonably infer, a place of very gen- 
eral resort long before the settlement of the main-land. 
Phinehas Pratt, who visited the islands a year before 
the arrival of Captain Levett, speaks of them, in sim- 

1 Smith's letter to Bacon, Col. St. Pap., Vol. I, p. 42. 



66 ISLES OF SHOALS. 

ilar terms to the latter, as a rendezvous for English 
fishing vessels. 

Pratt, in company with nine others, arrived at 
Damariscove Island in May, 1622, in the ship " Spar- 
row," and shortly after, with a part of the crew, left 
the vessel, and cruised along the coast in a boat to- 
wards Massachusetts Bay. " We first arrived," he 
writes, " att Smithe's Islands, first soe called by Capt. 
Smith att the time of his discovery of New England, 
afterwards called ' Islands of Sholes.' " 

Having then proceeded to Plymouth and Wessagus- 
cus, he returned the next March (1623) to the Isles 
of Shoals and rejoined his ship, the " Sparrow," in 
that harbor. 

" At this time," says Phinehas, in his manuscript 
now partly illegible, " ships began to fish at ye Isl- 
ands of Sholes, and I, having recovered a little of my 
health, went to my company, nearabout this time 
. . . . the first plantation at Pascataqua the .... 
thereof was Mr. David Tomson, at the time of my 
arrival att Pascataqua." ^ 

1 '* At the time of his (Captain Levett's) being ai Pascata- 
way '^ (1623), writes Pratt, "a Sacham or Sagamor gave two oi 
his men, one to Captain Levett and another to Mr. Tomson ; bu 
one that was there said, 'How can you trust those salvages? 
Call the name of one "Watt Tyler" and y^ other "Jack 
Straw," after the names of the two greatest Rebills y* ever 
were in England.'" — Phinehas Pratt's Narrative. 



ISLES OF SHOALS, 67 

And when John Winthrop sailed past the Islands 
on June 11, 1630, he informs us that he " saw a ship 
lie there at anchor and five or six shallops under sail 
up and down, and met a shallop, which stood from 
Cape Ann towards the Isles of Shoals, which be- 
longed to some English fishermen." -^ 

Indeed, from all the contemporaneous testimony 
which has descended to our time, the Isles of Shoals, 
several years before the establishment of permanent 
plantations on the neighboring main-land, or the or- 
ganization there of any semblance of civil govern- 
ment, had become a well-known and much frequented 
centre of general resort. 

^ 1 Winth. 24. 




CHAPTER VII. 

IN the year 1630, the Company of Laconia ap- 
2Deared, like a mirage^ on the rocks of the Isles 
of Shoals and the banks of Piscataqua river. Their 
Patent conveyed to them not a single acre of New 
Hampshire territory ; nor were they authorized to 
take and hold, within her limits, more than one 
thousand acres, for the convenience of their proposed 
traffic. 

The Laconia Company simply established two or 
three trading posts on the river and at the Shoals, 
after the manner of the East Indian Factories^ and 
for a short time carried on the peltry traffic and the 
fisheries at a heavy loss, until at the end of three 
years, in bankruptcy and disaster, the Company dis- 
solved and vanished away. The story of the sudden 
rise, momentary brilliancy, and speedy extinction of 
the meteoric Company of Laconia cannot be wholly 
omitted from the annals of the Isles of Shoals. 

In earlier times New England had richly abounded 

(58) 



ISLES OF SHOALS. 59 

in fur-bearing animals. During Smith's brief cruise 
down our coast in 1614, he procured, he tells us, by- 
purchase from the natives, 1,000 beaver, and 100 each 
of otter and marten skins,^ and other voyagers hither 
ui those days met with similar success. So greedily, 
however, did Europeans pursue this lucrative traffic, 
that in the lapse of a few years, the ponds and water- 
courses near the coast had been deprived of a large 
portion of their treasures, and the trade had much 
declined. To discover and appropriate new terri- 
tories, still rich in peltries, then became a purpose of 
earnest solicitude with the English adventurers to our 
coast. 

But it was already too late. The immense terri- 
tories around the great inland seas, abounding more 
richly than any other part of the country in the otter 
and the beaver, the deer and the bear, had long ago 
been annexed to the French crown by Champlain — 
that same great Navigator, who, in his younger days, 
had cruised down our coast, and was the first to de 
scribe the Isles of Shoals. 

In Champlain's hands was now grasped the entire 
traffic of that vast undefined region, named IVeto 
France. From the remote waters of Lake Superior 
and Lake Iroquois, drained by the great river of 

^ Smith's letter to Lord Bacon. 



60 ISLES OF SHOALS. 

Canada (now the St. Lawrence), the immerous ranoes 
of French and Indian trappers brought down rich 
cargoes of furs, and laid them at the feet of Cham- 
plain's lofty fortress at Quebec. In 1627, the profits 
of that traffic were estimated at .£30,000 per annum.^ 

The envy and cupidity of the English, as well aa 
their national rivalry, were keenly aroused, and on the 
outbreak of war with France in 1627, they greedily 
seized the occasion to capture New France by force 
of arms. A Company, headed by Sir William Alex- 
ander, entitled the Canada Company^ undertook the 
conquest as a private enterprise, and setting out a 
strong naval force, under command of Sir David 
Kirke, succeeded in capturing Quebec and bringing 
the whole French territory into subjection. 

Loaded with booty, and bringing Champlain him- 
self as prisoner, the expedition returned triumphantly 
to England (November 6, 1629) only to learn that 
peace had been for several months restored, and that 
by the Articles of the Treaty, all their hard-won con- 
quests in the New World were required to be restored 
to Prance. 

Among the most stirring members of the now sadly 
baffled Canada Company, was one Thomas Eyre, a 
London merchant, who had acted as its Accountant 
1 2 Court and Times of Charles I., by Birch, 90. 



rSLES OF SHOALS. 61 

mid Treasurer.'^ Thomas Waniierton, a notary pub 
lie and merchant of London, George (friffith, another 
London merchant, as well as Captain John Mason 
and Sir Ferdinando Gorges ^ seem to have been in- 
terested in the Canada Company, and must have been 
chagrined at its disastrous issue. 

These men now inquired after some shorter and 
easier way of reaching the fur country than by the 
river of Canada, and one which might be used by the 
English without infringement of the late Treaty. 

Captain Smith had written, that in his exploration 
of the New England coast in 1614, he sailed up a 
river " 40 miles and crossed the mouths of many, 
whose heads, the inhabitants report, are great lakes, 
where they kill their beaver, inhabited with many 
people, that trade with them of New England and 
those of Canada." ^ The interior of the country had 
not as yet been explored, and little or nothing was 
known of it by the English, except from the rude 
maps of the Dutch and French, chiefly those of L'Es- 
carbot and Champlain. An inspection of these charts 

1 Admiralty Court Book, Vol. 271, Sub. An. 1633. Public 
Rcc. Off., London. 

^ See the numerous affidavits and orders in the Court of *x- 
iiiiralty, relating to the affairs of the Canada Compan). 

" Smith's letter t:. Baccn. 



62 ISLES OF SHOALS. 

corroborated the statements of Smith. On these 
maps, the Iroqnois Lake (now Lake Champlain) 
which, by the recent capture of Quebec, was now 
known to be one of the richest trapping grounds of 
New JB ranee, was laid down close in the rear of New 
Hampshire, and the Piscataqua river took its source 
near its banks, if not directly from the Lake itself, 
thus affording easy access to the Iroquois beavei 
country at an immense saving of distance and ex- 
pense. 

It was but ten days after the return of the Canada 
Company Expedition that, accordingly. Sir Ferdi- 
nando Gorges and Captain John Mason took out for 
themselves and their associates, a grant dated Novem- 
ber 17, 1629, of a large vaguely bounded territory on 
the Iroquois Lake, named Laconia,^ and admitted as 
their associates in the Patent, Thomas Eyre, Thomas 
Wannerton, John Cotton, Henry Gardner, George 
Griffith, Edwin Guy, and Eliezer Eyre. The scheme 
of these Patentees is apparent from the language of 
the Grant itself. It was to send over cargoes of In- 
dian truck-goods to the Piscataqua and unlade theni 
at the factories near the mc^th of the river, and 
the»'e to transport them in boats or canoes up the 
Piscataqua to Lake Champlain, to be bartered there 

^ See Appendix No. 2. 



ISLES OF SHOALS. 63 

for peltries for exportation from the factories to 
Europe. For the better accommodation of this traffic, 
the Company were authorized to take up one thou- 
sand acres of land on the side of the Piscataqua river, 
as a site of their factory ; but they seem not to have 
availed themselves of this privilege, the territory at 
the mouth of the river being acquired by the adven- 
turers under a subsequent patent. 

The next spring after the grant of Laconia was 
made, the Company sent out to the Piscataqua a 
party of men, under command of Captain Walter 
Neale, to explore and take possession of their new 
province. 

Captain Walter Neale was one of those soldiers of 
fortune so numerous in that stirring age. Prior to 
1615, he had served as Captain of the Artillery Gar- 
den^ in London, wherein the principal citizens were 
disciplined and instructed in the art of war. He then 
enlisted into active military service, both abroad and 
at home, wherever his sword could find employment, 
for the ensuing thirteen years. He says of himself 
in 1628, that " he hath never had any other profes- 
sion but his sword, nor other fortune than the warre ; 
that he hath been an officer in his Ma*' service five 
years, both in the expedicon w"' Count Mannsfelt and 
in several expeditions since, and served in the Isle 



64 ISLES OF SHOALS. 

of R^ many weeks a voluntary, without recQUia^^ 
pay." I 

On Neale's petition, in 1628, for compensa.tJon fo^ 
these military services, it was, by order, referred i i 
Captain John Mason, to cast up the accounts and 
certify as to the amount due. The acquaintance, thus 
formed, probably led to the selection of Neale as 
commander of the expedition sent out by the Laconia 
Company in quest of the Iroquois country and th^ 
French trapping grounds. 

Captain Neale and his company arrived at the Pin- 
cataqua, in the bark '' Warwick," June, 1630, and 
took possession, as his " chiefe habitation," of the 
buildings at Ordiorne's Point, Little Harbor, whict 
had been erected by David Thompson in 1623. As 
Thompson had removed about 1626, to an island in 
Massachusetts' Bay, and two years later had there 
died,2 it seems probable that Neale's occupation of the 
plantation at Ordiorne's Point was under some ar- 
rangement with Thompson's heirs. 

All the efforts of Captain Neale to reach the 
coveted Laconia proved, however, fruitless. He made 
the attempt, says Ferd. Gorges, Esq., " and the dis- 
covery wanted one day's journey of j&nishing, because 

1 Eng. State Pap. (Domes.), Vol. 136, No. 43. 

2 Bradford's Hist. (Ch. Dearie's note), p. 209. 



ISLES OF SHOALS. 65 

their victuals were spent, which for want of horses, 
they were enforced to carry with their arms and their 
clothes on their backs ; they intended to make a set- 
tlement for trade by pinnaces upon the said Lake 
(Champlain), which they reckon to be about 90 or 
100 miles from the plantation overland." ^ 

" Three years," says Hubbard, " were spent in la 
bor and travel for that end or other fruitless endeav- 
ors," and at last " they returned back to England, 
with a ' non est inventa Provincial " ^ 

During these three years of vain search after La- 
conia, the adventurers had made strenuous efforts to 
sustain their factories on the Piscataqua by traffic 
and the fisheries under the charge of their factor, 
Ambrose Gibbons, who had come out for that purpose 
in the same vessel with Captain Neale. Several car- 
goes of trade goods were sent over and put off for 
beaver skins at advantage, clapboards and pipe-staves 
were manufactured, salt-pans set up and salt made 
from the sea-water ; vines were planted, and a consid- 
erable tract of ground brought under cultivation. So 
bright seemed at one time the prospects of the Com- 
pany, that it was determined to enlarge and extend 
its operations. A grant was accordingly prociu'ed, 

^ America painted to the Life. 
2 Hubbard's New Eng., 216. 
5 



66 ISLES OF SHOALS. 

November 3, 1631, to tlie Adventurers jointly of a 
small tract of land on each side of the Piscataqua, 
called the " Grant and Confirmation of Pescataway 
to S"" Ferdinando Gorges and Cap* Mason & oth- 
ers." 1 

The Isles of Shoals being at that time, as we have 
seen, the resort of fishing vessels, were important to 
the adventurers in the prosecution of their business ; 
and we find, accordingly, that in the Patent, the en- 
tire group of the Shoals was included, a magazine was 
established there, and a close intercourse maintained 
between them and the mainland. 

But upon the whole, what with bad management 
and bad faith on the part of the Company's servants, 
the business turned out unprofitable, and the adven- 
turers became discouraged. As a final effort, they 
determined, in 1632, to try a venture in the fisheries 
alone. 

In the spring of that year they chartered from 
Mathew Craddock, and others, a pinnace of 100 tons 
named the " Lyon's Whelp of London," John Gibbs, 
master, for a fishing voyage to the Piscataqua and the 
Isles of Shoals, thence to Bilboa, etc., and back to 
London. By the charter party, she was to sail from 
London in season to reach the Shoals before Aprii 
30 ; or if she arrived later in the season, then she 
^ Appendix No. 3. 



ISLES OF SHOALS. 67 

was to proceed at once to Newfoundland, and procure 
there a fare of fish.i By reason of the unseaworthi- 
ness of the vessel, she did not arrive at the Piscataqua 
until after the end of April, and the fishing seasor 
was over ; and failed to proceed to Newfoundland, aa 
directed in such case by the charter party, but re- 
turned to London in the fall with heavy loss to all 
concerned in the adventure. 

This last blow proved the destruction of the Com- 
pany of Laconia. Their brilliant visions of sudden 
and boundless wealth from their Province of the Iro- 
quois Lake had melted away ; their traffic at the Pis- 
cataqua Factories had brought them nothing but vex- 
ation and loss ; even their hopes from the Isles of 
Shoals fisheries had been bafiled by bad management 
and misfortune. They gave over all further efforts in 
despair. No more vessels, either for fishing or trade, 
were sent out. The Company was disbanded ; Cap- 
tain Neale with ten of his men returned to England 

o 

in August, 1633 ; the assets of the Company were 
partitioned among those interested ; and then there 
sprang up between the adventurers a numerous crop 
of quarrels and litigations, the mouldy records of 
which, among the archives of the long abolished 
" Court ot Requests," have preserved to our time 
the story of the hapless Company of Laconia. 
1 Appendix No. 4. 



68 ISLES OF SHOALS. 

In 1633. a diyision of the joint estate on the north- 
erly side of the Piscataqua River ^vas made among 
the adventurers ; but the Shoals, and the estate on 
the south side of the river, ^vere expressly retained 
as common property, until another and final distribu- 
tion of the assets in 1635 ; at which time, as neither 
Mason nor Gorges wished to surrender their entire 
interest in these valuable islands, the group was di- 
vided between them precisely upon the line, which, 
with a brief interruption, has been maintained to the 
present day. Gorges took the northerly half, and 
carried it with him into his subsequent province of 
Maine, while John Mason took the southerly half and 
annexed it to his abeady granted province of New 
Hampshire.^ This circumstance accounts for the sin- 
gular division of our " many of barren rocks," be- 
tween the two governments. And we have ventured 
to explain this part of their history at some detail, as 
none of our authors, to our knowledge, have set these 
matters out in a clear light. 

During the existence of the Company of Laconia^ 
both the Islands and the main land had become peopled 
with considerable niunbers of laborers of all sorts, and 
permanent buildings had been erected. This popula- 
tion had remained long enough to take root, anq 
npon the withdrawal of the Laconia Company, they 
* Catalogue of Early Doc. rel. to Maine, p. 46. 



ISLES OF SHOALS. 69 

fomied themselves into voluntary combinations, and 
laid the foundation of a new and independent State. 

The Isles of Shoals, under the patronage of the 
Laconia adventurers, had gained considerably in popu- 
lation and business, their rateable property being equal 
to that of New Plymouth itself; no less than seven- 
teen fishing ships from Europe having arrived there 
and at Richman's Island m the month of March, 1633-4.^ 
Edward Johnson, in his History of New England, 
written not long after, truly describes the Isles of 
Shoals as having become, at that day, " a gi'eat place 
for fishing for our Enghsh nation. "^ Lechford, in his 
" Plaine Dealing," written a few years later, character- 
izes the group in very similar language. ^ The un- 
portance of this little cluster of bare rocks was now, 
indeed, generally recognized, as a chief fishing station 
in the Gulf of Maine. 

1 1 Winthrop, p. 124. 

^ Johnson's New England, ch. SO. 

^Plaine Dealing, p, 107. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

AMONG those who visited the Shoals at this 
early period must not be forgotten the great 
name of Richard Mather, the founder and progenitor 
of that ''^ decemvir ate ^^ of Mathers, who exercised such 
an important influence over the early history of New 
England. 

Richard Mather writes, in the diary of his voyage to 
New England, under date of August 14, 1635 : — 

" This evening by moonlight, about ten of-the-clock, 
we came to anchor at the Isles of Shoals, which are 
seven or eight islands and other great rocks, and there 
slept sweetly that night, until break of day." 

In the morning, however, one of the most terrible 
easterly storms broke on the sea, that has ever been 
known in New England. " Whereby," continues 
Richard, " we were in as much danger as I think 
ever people were. For we lost in that morning three 
great anchors and cables; of which cables, one, having 
cost .£50, never had been in any water before; two 

(70) 



ISLES OF SHOALS. 71 

were broken by the violence of the waves, and thci 
third cut by the seamen in extremity and distress, to 
save the ship and their and our lives. And when 
our cables and anchors were all lost, we had no 
outward means of deliverance, but by loosing sail, 
li' so be we might get to the sea from amongst 
the islands and rocks where we anchored. But 
the Lord let us see that our sails could not save us 
neither ; no more than our cables and anchors. For, 
by the force of the wind and rain, the sails were rent 
in sunder and split in pieces, as if they had been but 
rotten rags, so that of the foresail and spritsail there 
was scarce left so much as a hand breadth that was 
not rent in pieces and blown away into the sea. So 
that at this time, all hope that we should be saved, in 
regard of any outward appearance, was utterly taken 
away; and rather because we seemed to drive with 
full force of wind and rain directly upon a mighty 
rock, standing out in sight above the water; so that 
we did but continually wait, when we should hear 
find feel the doleful rushing and crashing of the ship 
u[)on the rock. In this extremity and appearance 
i)t' death, as distress and destruction would suffer 
us, we cried unto the Lord, and he was pleased to 
have compassion and pity upon us ; for by his over- 
ruling Providence and liis own immediate good hand, 



72 ISLES OF SHOALS. 

lie guided the ship past the rock, assuaged the violence 
of the sea and of the wind and rain, and gave us a little 
respite to fit the ship with other sails and sent us a 
fresh gale of wind, by which we went on that day 
toward Cape Ann. It was a day much to be remem- 
bered, because on that day the Lord granted us as 
wonderful a deliverance, as I think ever people had, 
out of as apparent danger, as I think ever people felt. 
I am sure our seamen confessed they never knew the 
like. The Lord so imprint the memory of it on our 
hearts, that we may be better for it, and be more care- 
ful to please him, and to walk uprightly before him, as 
long as we live; and I hope we shall not forget the 
passages of that morning until our dying day."^ 

" The mighty rock," past which the immediate good 
hand of Providence guided the James of Bristol on this 
fearful morning was probably White Island, the west- 
ernmost of the Isles of Shoals.^ 

The three great anchors, which Mather's ship then 
lost, still lie, no doubt, beneath the waters of the 
Shoals harbor ; most interesting relics, could they be 
recovered, of the first generation of our Puritan 
Fathers, and particularly of one of tlie greatest families 
an ong them. 

^ Young's Chronicles, p. 473. 
2 Compare 1 Winthrop, p. 165. 



ISLES OF SHOALS. T3 

The tempest in wliich she was caught was, perhaps, 
the most furious that ever visited these exposed Islands 
Nearly all the contemporaneous writers of New Eng 
land describe its violence with dismay. Says Morton, 
who witnessed it at New Plymouth : "It was such a 
mighty storm of wind and rain, as none now living in 
these parts, either English or Indian, had seen the like, 
being like unto those hurricanes or tuffins that writers 
mention to be in the Indies. It began in the morning 
a little before day, and grew not by degrees, but came 
with great violence in the beginning, to the great 
amazement of many ; it blew down sundry houses and 
uncovered divers others ; many vessels were lost at sea 
in it, and many more in extreme danger. It caused 
the sea to swell in some places to the southward of 
Plymouth, as that it arose to twenty feet right up and 
down, and made many of the Indians to climb into 
trees for safety. It blew down many hundred thous- 
ands of trees, turning up the stronger by the roots, 
and breaking the high pine trees and such like in the 
midst, and the tall young oak and walnut trees of 
good bigness were wound as withes by it, very strange 
and fearful to behold ; the marks of it will reniain this 
ma-ny years in those parts where it was forest. Tlie 
iiio'»n sufferei a great eclipse two nights after it."^ 
1 Morton's Memorial, p. 112. 



74 ISLES OF SHOALS. 

Winthrop adds, that such was the violence of the 
tempest at sea, that in Boston harbor there were two 
flood tides within two hours of each other.^ 

It was, probably, in this same great storm, that 
a house, belonging to a tailor, named Tucker, was 
swept away by the waves from the rocks on Haley's 
or Smuttynose Island, and carried entire to Cape 
Cod, where it was hauled ashore, and a box of linen, 
papers, etc., which was found in it, made known 
from whence it came. The family had barely time 
to escape before the house was washed into the sea.^ 

That same fearful morning, Anthony Thatcher and 
his cousin Avery, with their famihes, were wrecked 
upon one of the small islands at the head of Admiral 
John Smith's Cape Tragabigzauda, near the Three 
Turks' Heads and in view from the Shoals. • Thatcher 
who had been a non-conformist minister in England, 
gave a narrative of the catastrophe, which, by its pa- 
thos, its unaffected piety, its homely truth, cannot 
fail, we think, to interest the reader. 

''I must turn my drowned pen and shaking hand," 
writes Thatcher, "to indite the story of such sad 
news, as never before this happened in New England. 

*' There was a league of perpetual friendship bo. 

1 1 Winthrop, p. 1G4. 

* 7 Mass. Hist. Coll. p. 2.52. 



ISLES OF SHOALS. "^5 

tween my cousin Avery and myself, never to forsake 
each other to the death, but to be partakers of each 
other's misery or welfare, as also of habitation in the 
same place. 

*' We embarked at Ipswich, August 11, 1635, with 
our families and substance, bound for Marblehead, 
we being in all twenty-three souls, viz. : 11 in my 
cousin's family, 7 in mine, one Mr. Eliot, and 4 mari- 
ners. The next morning, having commended our- 
selves to God, with cheerful hearts we set sail. But 
before dayhght, (of August 15), it pleased the Lord 
to send so mighty a storm, as the like was never 
known in New England. It was so furious that an 
anchor came home ; whereupon the mariners let out 
more cable, which at last slipped away. Then our 
sailors knew not what to do; but we were driven 
before the wind and waves. 

" My cousin and I perceived our danger, and sol- 
emnly recommended ourselves to God, the Lord both 
of earth and seas, expecting with every wave to be 
swallowed up and drenched in the deeps. And as my 
cousin, his wife, and my tender babes sat comforting 
and cheering one the other in the Lord against ghastly 
death, which every moment stared us in the face, and 
Bat triumphing on each one's forehead, we were by 
dhe violence of the waves and fury of the winds (by 



76 TSLES OF SHOALS. 

the Lord'ri permission) lifted up upon a rock between 
two high I'ocks, yet all was one rock. The waves 
came furiously and violently over us and against us, 
but by reason of the rock's proportion, could not lift 
us off, but beat her all to pieces. Now consider of 
my misery, who beheld the ship broken, the water 
violently overwhelming us, my goods and provisions 
swimming in the seas, my friends almost drowned, 
mine own poor children so untimely before mine eyes 
drowned, and ready to be swallowed up and dashed 
to pieces against the rocks by the merciless waves, and 
myself ready to accompany them. 

"But from the greatest to the least of us, there was 
not one screech or outcry made ; but all, as silent 
sheep, were contentedly resolved to die together lov- 
ingly, as since our acquaintance we had lived together 
friendly. 

*' Now as I was sitting in the cabin room door, 
with my body in the room, when lo I one of the 
sailors, by a wave being washed out of the pinnace, 
was gotten in again, and coming into the cabin room 
over my back, cried out: 'We are all cast away! 
The Lord have mercy upon us ! I have been washea 
overboard into the sea, and am gotten in again.' His 
speeches made me look forth, and seeing how we 
were, I turned myself to and spake these words : ' O, 



ISLES OF SHOALS. 77 

cousin, it hath pleased God to cast us here between 
two rocks, the shore not far from us, for I saw the 
tops of trees when I looked forth.' Whereupon the 
master of the pinnace, looking up at the scuttle hole 
of the quarter deck, went out at it, but I never saw 
him afterwards. Then he that had been in the sea 
went out agam by me and leaped overboard toward, 
the rocks, whom afterwards also I could not see. 

" My cousin thought I would have fled from hiiix, 
and said unto me ; ' O, cousin, leave us not ; let us 
die together,' and reached forth his hand unto me. 
Then I, letting go my son Peter's hand, took him by 
the hand, and said : ' Cousin, I purpose it not ; 
whither shall I go ? I am willing and ready here to 
die with you and my poor children. God be merciful 
to us and receive us to himself ! ' 

" Which words 1 had no sooner spoken, but by a 
mighty wave I was, with the piece of the bark, 
washed out upon part of the rock, where the wave 
left me almost drowned. But recovering my feet, I 
saw above me on the rock my daughter, Mary, to 
whom I had no sooner gotten, but my cousin, Avery, 
and his eldest son came to us, being all four of us 
washed out by one and the same wave. " Then," 
Bays Cotton Mather, " did Mr. Avery lift up his eyes 
to Heaven and say, ' We know not what the pleasure 



78 ISLES OF SHOALS. 

of God is. I fear we have been too unmindful of for* 
mer deliverances. Lord ! I cannot challenge a pres- 
ervation of my life, but Thou hast promised to de- 
liver us from sin and condemnation and to bring us 
safe to Heaven, through the all-sufl&cient satisfaction 
of Jesus Christ. This therefore I do challenge of 
Thee.' " i' ^ " We called," continues Thatcher, " to 
those in the pinnace to come to us. My wife, see- 
ing us there, was crept up into the scuttle of the 
quarter deck to come unto us. But presently came 
another wave, and dashing the pinnace all to pieces, 
carried my wife away in the scuttle, as she was, with 
the greater part of the quarter deck, unto the shore, 
where she was cast safely but something bruised. 
All the rest that were in the bark were drowned in 
the merciless seas. We four by that wave were 
clean swept away from off the rock also into the sea ; 
the Lord, in one instant of time, disposing of fifteen 
souls of us, according to his good pleasure and will. 

" As I was sliding off the rock into the sea, the 
Lord directed my toes into a joint in the rock's side, 
and also the tips of some of my fingers, by means 
whereof, the wave leaving me, I remained so, hang- 
ing on the rock, only my head above the water. By 
another wave I was washed away from the rock 
1 1 Mather's Mag. 332. 



ISLES OF SHOALS. 79 

and driven hither and thither in the seas a great 
while, and had many dashes against the rocks. At 
length, past hopes of life, and wearied in body and 
spirits, I even gave over to nature, and being ready 
to receive in the waters of death, I lifted up both 
my heart and hands to the God of Heaven, — for 
note, I had my senses remaining perfect with me 
all the time that I was under and in water ; who 
at that instant lifted my head above the top of the 
water, so I might breathe without any hindrance 
by the waters. I stood bolt upright, as if I had stood 
upon my feet, but I felt no bottom, nor had any 
footing to stand upon but the waters. 

" Suddenly I was overwhelmed with waters, and 
driven to and fro again, and at last I felt the ground 
with my right fc ot. I made haste to get out, and 
with safety crept to the dry shore, where, blessing 
God, I turned about to look for my children and 
friends, but saw neither, nor any part of the pinnace. 
But I saw my wife about a butt length from me, 
gotten to the shore. 

"When we were come together, we went and 
sat down together under the bank. But fear of the 
seas roaring and our coldness would not suffer us 
i\\(ivQ to remain. But we went up into the land and 
sat us down under a cedar tree, which the wind had 



80 ISLES OF SHOALS, 

thrown down, where we sat about an hour, almost 
dead with cold. 

" Now came to my remembrance the time and 
manner, how and when I last saw and left my children 
and friends. One was severed from me sitting on 
the rock at my feet-, the other three in the pinnace ; 
my httle babe (ah, poor Peter !) sitting in his sister 
Edith's arms, who, to the uttermost of her power, 
sheltered him from the waters ; my poor William 
standing close unto them, all three of them looking 
ruefully on me on the rock, their very countenances 
calling unto me to help them. Oh, I yet see their 
cheeks, poor silent lambs, pleading pity and help at 
mv hands ! 

*' I and my wife were almost naked, both of us, 
and wet and cold even unto death. I found a knap- 
sack cast on the shore, in which I had a steel and 
flint and powder-horn. Going further, I found a 
drowned goat ; then I found a hat and my son Wil- 
liam's coat, both which I put on. My wife found 
one of her petticoats which she put on. I found 
also two cheeses and some butter driven ashore. Thus 
the Lord sent us some clothes to put on, and food to 
sustain our new lives, which we had lately given untc 
us, and means also to make fire ; for in a horn I had 
some gunpowder, which, to mine own, and smce tc 
other men's admiration, was dry. 



ISLES OF SHOALS. 



81 



" There we remained until the Monday following ; 
when, about three of the clock in the afternoon, in 
a boat that came that way, we went off that desolate 
island, which I named, after my name, Thatcher's 
Woe, and the rock, Avery his Fall, to the end that 
their fall and loss, and mine own, might he had in 
perpetual remembrance."^ 

The worthy man's hope in this latter regard has 
been fully gratified. Thatcher's Island, at the head 
of Cape Ann, still perpetuates the remembrance of 
Thatcher's Woe, and Avery's Rock still puts us in 
mind of Avery his Fall. 

1 Young's Chronicles, p. 485. 




CHAPTER IX. 

FOR some twenty years after the dissolution, in 
1633, of the trading company of Laconia, and 
the partition of the Isles of Shoals between Gorges 
and Mason, they remained substantially free and in- 
dependent. In the year 1635, Mason died, and, for a 
long time afterwards, his heirs delayed to make good 
their title to the south half of the Shoals, or any part 
of the Province of New Hampshire. The northern 
half was, it is true, attached to Gorges' Province, but 
so loosely that the restraint of its courts was little 
felt. During this long period of independence, the 
Isles of Shoals made important advances in popula- 
tion, business, and wealth. The inhabitants became 
sedentary ; numbers of dwelling-houses were erected, 
and the titles to these bare rocks became of substan- 
tial value, worthy of careful record in the County 
books. The number of the resident population ran up 
to about 600 souls ; they had a meeting-house ^ and a 

1 Appendix No. 5. 

(82) 



ISLES OF SHOALS. 83 

court-house on Haley's Island, " and a seminary of 
Buch repute, that even gentlemen from some of the 
towns on the sea-coast sent their sons here for literary 
instruction." ^ 

The meeting-house is said to have been constructed of 
brick ; the dwelling-houses of the more substantial resi- 
dents were comfortable and of good size, the furni- 
ture as ample as then known in New England. An or- 
dinary, or tavern, was kept on Smutty Nose, a bowling 
alley and brewery were on Hog Island, and ale-houses 
abounded. 2 Flocks and herds, and swine, were nu- 
merous upon the Islands. Philip Babb, in 1671, kept 
five head of cattle and seven sheep ; William Seeley 
at the same time kept four sheep and several 
" shoates " ; and other residents, no doubt, were pro- 
prietors of domestic animals. The soil of the islands 
was much deeper in those early days than it is at pres- 
ent. About the beginning of the present century, a 
great deal of the turf is said to have been consumed as 
fuel by the destitute islanders, and the soil has now be- 
come so scanty, that but for the extinction of the settle- 
mer.t, burials must, ere this, have been made in the sea. 

The estates of the leading men at this early period 
were very large — among the largest in New England. 

1 1 WiUiamson's Hist, of Maine, p. 277. 
* York County Records, passim. 



84 ISLES OF SHOALS. 

Philip Babb, at his death, left an estate valued at 
£200; William Seeley, one of £631 7s.', Walter 
Mathews, one of £400. James Waymouth's estate 
was appraised at £595, and that of John Lines at 
£729 13s. Id., sterling money. All these men were 
residents of the islands at the same period, and died 
there about 1674, within a few years of each other. ^ 

At this period the population of the Isles of Shoals 
was chiefly located on the northern or Gorges portion, 
although Star Island was not wholly vacant. The 
earliest of the settlements had been made upon Hog 
Island, on account of a good spring of water there. A 
v.,onsiderable village was built on the sheltered southerly 
slope of that Island, running back from Smith's Cove 
to the eastward, and straggling here and there over 
the rocks up the broken slope. The visitor of to-day 
may easily trace the general figure of the hamlet in the 
cellar and garden walls (some 70 or 80 in number), 
which, though now tumbled down and overgrown with 
vines and weeds, clearly mark the site of a once thriv- 
ino; viUao-e. 

The Island, called Smutty Nose (now Haley's) pos- 
sessed, in its smoother surface and arable fields, su- 
perior attractions over the rest of the group, as a place 
of residence. From the very first, accordingly, we 
find considerable numbers, and those among the chief 
* Records of York and Rockino-hain Counties. 



ISLES OF SHOALS. 



8 



of the population, selecting that Island as the site of 
their dwellings and fishing stages. 

The precise period, when the several Islands cf tlie 
group acquired their present names, cannot now be 
hxed. As long as the population remained concen- 
trated upon the large Island of the cluster, the name 
" Isle of Shoals " would be quite definite enough to 
designate that particular Island, though it was also 
used sometimes, in a larger sense, to denote the whole 
group. As soon, however, as the other Islands became 
inhabited, convenience would require the application to 
them of separate names. Until the dissolution of the 
Company of Laconia, the only name given to the 
Islands, whether general or specific, was that of the 
Isle or Isles of Shoals. The name of Hog Island we 
have traced back to 1635, that of Smutty Nose to 
about 1650, and that of Star Island to 1647, though the 
atter names were, doubtless, conferred prior to those 
fcieveral dates. 

Hoo- Island is said to have derived its name from the 
fancied resemblance of its elevated ridge to a hog's 
back."^ Smutty Nose was so nick-named from a long 
black projection or nose on its southeast side. Star 
Island took its title from its star-shaped outline. 
Upon Cedar Island grew perhaps the " three or four 
1 More probably, from the number of hogs kept upon it. 



8(j ISLES OF SHOALS. 

Bhort shrubby old cedars," spoken of by Captain Smith, 
which gave the Island its name, and the view of which 
by John Winthrop, as he sailed by in 1630, at a dis- 
tance of two leagues, misled him into describing the 
Isles of Shoals as being " woody ^ ^ 

The appellation of Isles of Shoals — spelt variously 
in early times, Shoulds, Sholes, or Showles — was per- 
haps conferred on the group, on account of the reefs 
or shoals, which lurk about the Islands.^ 

It is not our purpose to enter into minute details, as 
to the names, characters or genealogies of the early 
settlers upon our then busy islets. Such particulars 
could interest none but the devoted antiquary. Among 
the principal residents there, however, about the middle 
of the seventeenth century, when the Islands had at- 
tained a high prosperity, we may mention the three 
brothers, John, Richard, and Robert Cutt. They set- 
tled there very early, and although they all removed 
to the mainland about 1647, Richard and John car- 

1 2 Winthrop (Addenda), 341. 

2 It is proper to observe, however, that one of the most learned 
and exact antiquaries of New England, Charles W. Tuttle, Esq., 
of Boston, is of opinion that " the name of the group was ob- 
viously suggested by their plurality." On Captain Smith's map 
he says : " Eighteen distinct islands are laid down. A number 
that suggests the idea of a ' Shoal of Isles,' shpal being current in 
those days to signify a multitude, a throng or a crowd. Writers 
have chosen to write 'Isles of Shoals,' -in place of ' Shoals of 
Isles/ thereby concealing to some extent the origin of the name. 



ISLES OF SHOALS. 87 

ried on business at the Shoals until their death. ^ 
Richard Cutt seems, from his last will, to have owned 
a large property at Star Island at the time of his 
death in 1676, and to have carried on an extensive 
trade there in partnership with his son-in-law, Wil- 
Ham Vaughan. John Cutt was, in 1679, created the 
first Royal President of the Province of New Hamp- 
shire. Robert Cutt was an Episcopalian and Royal- 
ist, like most of the founders of Maine and New 
Hampshire ; but his brothers, Richard and John, were 
strongly tinctured with Puritanism, and when they 
had removed to the mainland, after New Hampshire 
came under the rule of Massachusetts Bay, they were 
intrusted by the latter for the ensuing thirty years 
with the chief offices and influence over the Piscata- 
qua, and thus accumulated very large estates. Hav- 
ing secured wealth and honors. President John, near 
the close of his life, turned his back on the Puritans 
and courted the Royal favor and protection. " He 
was cast out," says Randolph, in 1679, "of all Publick 
Employments by the Government of Boston," but se- 
cured full compensation from the King, and died in 
the enjoyment of his ample property .2 

The tliree brothers, William, Richard and John 
Seeley were also among tlie more distinguished of the 

1 See their Last Wills. Probate Rec., Rock. Co. 

2 N. Eng. Pap., Vol. 42, p. 202. Rec. Off., Lopaon. 



88 ISLES OF SHOALS. 

early settlers there. They came over from England 
before 1640, and established themselves on Smutty 
Nose Island, where for many years they occupied 
chief positions as magistrates, constables, deputies and 
merchants.^ 

Another group of brothers, William, Roger and 
John Kelly, make a considerable figure in the early 
records of the Shoals, as men of energy and substance. 
They also settled upon Smutty Nose. A fourth group 
of brothers, living on that Island at this time, were 
William, Benedict and Richard Ohver, v/ho not only 
acquired there "dwelling-houses, houseings, staging 
and stage-room, flakes and flake-room and mooring 
places," in the language of the ancient deeds, but also 
purchased tracts of territory on the mainland. 

The singular circumstance, that so many groups 
of brothers are found among our early emigrants is 
due to the fact that most of them were young unmar- 
ried men, and naturally sought the companionship of 
their brothers in emigrating to a new world. 

The brothers, Michael and Richard Endel, (or 
Endle) emigrated to the Shoals about 1650, while 
yeivy young men. They subsequently married young 
women of the Islands, accumulated property, and ex 
«rcised considerable influence for many years. 

1 York County Records. 



ISLES OF SHOALS. 89 

Among the many other names to be met with in 
the ancient records of the Islands, are those of Wil- 
liam Pepperell, father of Sir WilHam Pepperell, Wil- 
liam Wormwood, Gabriel Grubb, Walter Boaden, the 
brothers Peter and John Twisden, Hercnlus Hun- 
kins, Philip Babb, Nick Hodge, the brothers Stephen 
and Richard Forde (alias Downs), Jack Crossom, 
Arthur Clapham, Fortunatus Home, and others 
equally queer. But the most attractive figure among 
all these early settlers is that of Mistress Rebecca 
Sherburne, wife of Henry Sherburne, who made her 
home for a time on the small Island of Malaga. Am- 
brose Gibbins and his wife, Rebecca's parents, had 
settled in New Hampshire as early as 1630. Am- 
brose, who had been for the previous eight years in- 
terested in New England matters, was sent out, as be- 
fore stated, as a steward or manager of the affairs of 
the Laconia Company, and resided in that capacity at 
Newitchawannock (now South Berwick) until about 
the time of the dissolution of that company ; when, hav- 
ing procured from them a grant of Saunders' Point in 
Little Harbor, he removed his family there, and estab- 
lished a home on that beautiftil locality. 

His daughter, Rebecca, was a mere child at the time 
of her arrival in New Hampshire, probably the first 
white child ever resident within the limits of that 
Province. She was naturally a favorite in the settle- 



90 ISLES OF SHOALS. 

ment, and always spoken of in pleasant terms. For 
instance, George Vaughan writes to her father, in 
1634: "My kind love to you and your spouse, and 
little Beck,"^ and John Raymond, while riding in the 
harbor of the Shoals, before sailing away to England, 
sends back to him a letter, remembering " my love to 
yourself, Mrs. Gibbins, little Becke, and the rest."^ 

The association of our little Becke with the Isles of 
Shoals, thus early begun, was destined to endure for 
many years. When she had reached about her seven- 
teenth year she married Henry Sherburne. A few years 
later, her husband purchased, in 1647, of Antipas Mav- 
erick, a dwelling-house on Appledore Island ; and there 
it is possible the young pair for a while resided. After 
a time, however, they removed to the little Island 
known as Malaga (then written Malagoe), and lived 
there probably at intervals, until 1660, when they sold 
out their property at the shoals to Nath'l. Freyer, and 
took up their future home on the mainland.^ Little 
Becke seems, as is fitting, to have lived a prosperous 
and happy life, and her descendants are still numerous 
in the land. 

The trade and commerce of the Isles of Shoals at 
this period was by no means insignificant. Not only 

1 1 New Hamp. Prov. Pap., p, 95. 
2 New Hampshire Pro. Pap,, p. 76. 
'^ 1 Id., p. 357. 



ISLES OF SHOALS. 9 

were vast quantities of fish taken and cured by tlie 
fishermen of the Islands, but the harbor became 
the entrepot for the fish caught in other parts of 
the Gulf of Maine,^ and were thence exported " to 
Lisbourne, Bilbo, Talloon, Rochel, and other cities of 
France, together with claw-boards and pipe-staves, 
which is there and at the Charibs a prime commod- 
ity,"^ bringing rich return cargoes of wine, sugar, to- 
bacco, etc., Avhich were distributed from the 'wai-ehouses 
of the traders at the Shoals and Strawberry Bank 
among the various settlements from Martha's Vine- 
yard to Acadia. In 1636, for instance, Thomas May- 
hew visited the Shoals for the purpose of purchasing 
so large a quantity as eighty hogsheads of provis- 
ions at one time, and expended a hundred pounds 
sterling in imported '' ruggs and coates."^ 

It was from these busy Islets that voyagers to the 
old world often embarked, and prisoners of state, 
ordered to be transported to England, were sent out 
to the Isles of Shoals to take passage in vessels bound 
from thence. The famous Thomas Morton, of Merry 
Mount, one of the first victims of the intolerance of the 
Pilgrim Fathers, was, in 1628, banished from Nov,* 

1 Lechford's " Plain Dealing," p. 116. Appendix No. 6. 

2 Josselyn's Voyages to New England, p. 161. 

3 Mass. Hist. Col., 4tli Series, Vol. \ll, p. 31. 



92 ISLES OF SHOALS. 

England in a vessel, wliich sailed from these Islands 
in June of that year.^ As Morton, after many tribu- 
lations, finally settled down at the Piscataqua, and 
passed there the remainder of his life, we have felt 
a curiosity to discover the grievous offences, which just- 
ified so severe a punishment as banishment, and the 
confiscation or destruction of his estate. One of his 
chief sins proven seems to have been a mirthful and 
sportive temper, and the evidence of it was that he 
and his merry men were guilty of dancing around a 
Maypole — a ealfe of Horeh., groaned the Puritans — and 
of composing a profane, licentious song, which was 
sung, says Morton himself, " with a Corns, every man 
bearing his part ; which they performed in a daunce, 
hand-in-hand about the Maypole, whiles one of the 
Company sung, and filled out the good liquor, like 
Gannemede and Jupiter." 

The song itself, if any of our readers may desire to 
glance at so wicked a composition, ran thus : — 

THE SONGE. 

Drinke, and be merry, merry, merry boyes, 
Let all your delight be in Hymen's joyes, 
lo to Hymen, now the day is come, 
About the merry Maypole take a roome. 

Make greene garlons, bring bottles out, 

And fill sweet Nectar freely about ; 

Uncover thy head and feare no harm. 

For here's good liquor to keep it warme. 

1 Morton's New England Memorial, p. 141. 



ISLES OF SHOALS. 93 

Then drinke and be merry, etc. 
Nectar is a thing asi?igned 
By the Deitie's owne mind 
To cure the hart oppressed with griefe, 
And of good liquors is the chiefe. 

Then drinke, etc. 

Give to the mellancolly man 

A cup or two of 't now and then ; 

This physick will soone revive his bloud, 

And make him of a merrier moode. 

Then drinke, etc 

Give to the Nymphe that's free from scorne 
No Irish stuiF, nor Scotch o'erworne ; 
Lasses in beaver coats come away, 
Yee shall be welcome to us night and day. 

Then drinke and be merry boys, etc.^ 

Th3 (lancing about a Maypole, the other chief article 
in Morton's indictment, was a hearty old English 
pastime, by no means uncommon with the first plant- 
ers. Phinehas Pratt, who visited the Isles of Shoals 
as early as 1622, the year before the arrival of Ca[)t. 
Levett, was guilty, on his own confession, of the same 
sin. He informs us, in his curious and quaint Narra- 
tive, that they went ashore, on arrival at Damariscove 
Island, '' set up a Maypole and were very merry." 

Not only did voyagers and traders and fishermen 
appear at the Shoals, but the islands seem to have 
!)ecome a chief emporium of foreign news. 
1 Morton's New English Canaan, p. 91. 



94 ISLES OF SHOALS. 

For instance, Gorges writes to Winthrop, in 1640, 
from Gorgeanna (now York) : "I cannot send you 
news from England, because the contrariety of winds 
hath hindred it from coming from the Isles of Shoals ;"-^ 
and tlie great tidings of the breaking out of the English 
rebellion, as well as the news of the execution of King 
Charles in 1649, did not reach New England until it 
was brought out by a Shoals' vessel."^ 

Indeed, if it were consonant to the plan of this 
sketch to accumulate still further instances and de- 
tails of the active prosperity of the Isles of Shoals, 
during the middle of the seventeenth century, abun- 
dant evidences might be gathered out of the Mass. 
Colonial Records, the New Hampshire Provincial 
Papers, and the different county and town records, to 
which we must content ourselves at present with sim- 
ply making a reference. 

1 7 Mass. Hist. Col., 4th Series, p. 334. 

2 2 Wintlirop, pp. 60, 413. Savage's Notes. 




CHAPTER X. 

THE Isles of Shoals, for many years after the dis- 
solution of the Company of Laconia, to which 
they had belonged, enjoyed almost unrestrained civil 
and religious liberty. At last, about 1652, they fell 
under the dominion of Massachusetts Bay. 

The dissensions between the King and Commons of 
England, which, as we have seen, began partly in the 
grievances of the poor fishermen of the Gulf of Maine, 
as early as 1622, had deepened in importance and bit- 
terness, until, in 1640, the nation was on the eve of 
that momentous struggle which was, for the next de- 
cade, to plunge the kingdom in blood and anarchy. 
The Massachusetts colony, who deeply sympathized 
with the Roundheads throughout the rebellion, and 
were confident of the latter's support in the usurpation 
they meditated, considered the occasion auspicious to 
seize upon the Provinces of New Hampshire and 
Maine, under the pretext tnat a true construction of 
their charter extended their northern limits as far as 
Clapboard Island, in Casco Bay. 

(95) 



96 ISLES OF SHOALS. 

Accordingly, in 1640, following the example of 
Joshua, the son of Nun, Gov. Winthrop sent into 
those parts the famous Hugh Peters, to " view the 
land," and sound the inclinations of the people. The 
messenger returned and reported to the Governor, 
that the people of the Easterly provinces were, in 
his own words, " ripe for our Government, as will 
appear by the note I have sent you. They grone for 
Government and Gospell all over that side of the 
country. Alas, poore bleeding soules ! "^ Some of 
the people of the Piscataqua were then procured to 
sign a petition for admission, and accordingly, in 
1641, that section of the country was taken under 
the protecting wing of the Mass. Bay ,2 and so re- 
mained for nearly forty years afterwards. The Pro- 
vince of Maine, however, stood out against the 
arguments and allurements of Governor Winthrop 
for ten years longer ; but when at last King Charles, 
in 1649, perished on the scaffold, and the cause of 
the Roundheads was triumphant, the Puritans of Mas- 
sachusetts, having no longer any punishment to dread 
for their deed of violence, as soon as the necessary 
arrangements could be perfected, took forcible posses- 
sion of the Province of Maine, which they managed 
to hold for nearly two centuries after. 

1 6 Mass. Hist. Col., 4th Series, p. 108. 
« 1 New Hamp. Prov. Pap., 158. 



ISLES OF SHOALS. 97 

The Isles of Shoals, during the progress of this 
struggle between Maine and Massachusetts, ranged 
themselves stoutly on the side of their royalist and 
Episcopalian friends on the mainland. When the 
New Hampshire towns submitted to the Bay rulers in 
1641, the Shoals openly revolted against the Puritan 
Roundheads, and declared their independence. Their 
minister, Richard Gibson, of the Church of England, 
who was settled at the Shoals in 1641 and 1642, 
spared no pains nor zeal to confirm his people in their 
resolution. Being in Boston in the summer of the 
latter year, on his return to England, he was seized 
by the authorities there, and indicted for " exercising 
the mmisterial function at the Shoals according to 
the discipline of the Church of England, opposing 
the Mass. title to those parts, and provoking the people 
to revolt" ; but as it turned out that Master Gibson 
was then " upon the wing of removal " from the 
fountry, it was thougiit better to suspend further pro- 
ceedin2:s a":ainst him.^ 

When, however, the province of Maine, in 1652, 
was compelled to bow before the Mass. Bay, the Islea 
of Shoals could no longer maintain the attitude of open 
.resistance. The whole group were then brought into 
uominal obedience to the Bay, and so remained for 

1 2 Wintlirop's Hist., p. 66. 

7 



8 ISLES OF SHOALS. 

nearly thirty years thereafter. A sound Puritan minis- 
ter, the Rev. John Brock, was sent over to them. Three 
judges or commissioners to " end small causes '' were 
appointed among them by the Puritans;^ "constables 
and a Sargeant Major " were empowered, " to pre- 
serve order among them and to train their militia " ; 
and so heavy a tax was imposed on them and Kittery, 
to which the northerly half was then annexed, as tc 
amount to half the sum assessed upon the entire 
county of Yorkshire.^ 

The following year, 1653, some twenty of the prin- 
cipal inhabitants petitioned the Mass. Gen. Court that 
the Islands might be erected into a separate township, 
and for certain other privileges therein specified. As 
this petition set forth clearly the considerable population 
Df the Shoals at this period, as well as several other 
matters of interest, we hope to be pardoned for quot- 
ing it, in extenso. It runs as follows : — 

To the much honored Court held at Boston, ye IS**" of ye 3^,53. 
The humble petition of the Inhabitants in the Isles of Shoules 
Sheweth 

That whereas wee the said Inhabitants Uveing so 
remote from the neighbuor-townes upon the Maine and having 
thereby allready sustained much vexinge through want of a power 
deputed amongst our selves to helpe, whom it may coneerne U 

1 Mass. Rec, Vol. IV., Part i., p. 133. 
2 Mass. Rec, Vol. IV., Part i., p. 233. 



ISLES OF SHOALS. 99 

their due debts, and findinge alsoe by unsutable wind and 
weather, that wee cannot (upon occasion) vlsite the Court that 
we might enjoy the benefitt of the Law, to recover our owne, in 
way righteousnes. Wee therefore upon such Hke reasons doe 
thinke it our dutie to make petition to this much honored general 
Court that you mought be pleased to take our condition into your 
serious and sage consideration & to grant us the privilege of a 
Towneshipp, as farre as your wisdomes shall think us capable, as 
that we may have amongst us a Clarke of the Writts & some others 
authorized to have the hearing & issuing of such causes as may 
fall out under the summe of Ten pounds, we finding as wee under 
your favor, more neede of such a prevelege than our neighbor- 
townes, forasmuch as some of our transient ones as it may fall 
out, they cannot tarrie untill their causes may be issued else- 
where. 

Alsoe, may it please the honored Court to take notice that 
our situation is such, as many times wee necessarilie shall not be 
able to joyne with our neighbors in militarie affaires through 
unseasonable weather, without great hazard or damage to our- 
selves. Our request is therefore that, you would be pleased to 
make us a distinct company in that respect, wee being upwards 
of a hundred men at this time, & that our loving friends John 
Arthur Lieut : & William Sealy Ensigne so chosen amongst us, 
to beginne that service, they mought be instated into such places, 
for the benefit of the rest, according to your order. 

Thus Avee nothing doubting, but yee will be pleased to pass by 
any of these our unsuitable expressions, & grant us whatsoever 
your discretion shall see mostly conduceing to our best good. Wee 
for your fatherlie ceare allready enjoyed, & yet expected doe 
account our selves in bounden dutie to be ready, to doe you any 
service to our abilitie, & to make supplications yet in your behalfe, 
for the further influences of the holie ghost upon your hearts, in 
these approaching & all after agitations, f-)r his own glory, with his 
L'hurches wellfare. We now hurablie take our leave, & subscribe 
ai the name & with general consent. 

Hercules Hunkins John Arthur 



100 ISLES OF SHOALS. 

Rice Cadogan Edward Smale 

Samuel Jewell Benjamin Bickford 

Rice Joanes Phillip Babb 

William Sealy Peter Gee 

William Vren Walther Mathews 

Peter Twisden Richard Sealy 

John Bickford Humphrey Horewell 

John Bretnell Mathew Giles 

John Fabins George Sealy 

This document was copied by Charles W. Tuttle, 
Esq., from the original on file in the office of the 
Secretary of State in Boston. Every signer, says Mr. 
Tuttle, '' wrote his name in a good fair hand. Upon 
its reception, the Court ordered that the inhabitants 
of the ' Isles of Shoals ' have hberty to determine all 
civil actions, where either or both parties are inhabi- 
tants, to the value of ten pounds. A ' Clark of the 
Writts ' was authorized to be appointed ; but the 
modest request to be made a township was ignored." 

In 1659, the inhabitants of all the islands again pe- 
titioned the Massachusetts General Court to be created 
a separate township.^ This petition was at first denied, 
on the ground that " the Court doe not judge the 
persons petitioning to be in a capacity at present to 
make a township. "^ The reason of the Gen. Court's 

1 4 Mass. Rec, Part i., p. 375. 

2 Id., p. 136. 



Ififtiiii iiter;:,*- 



«?:. 



11 



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I'lJi", 



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'iililllll. 



Il'l'l.' 




'^'■^ife 



ISLES OF SHOALS. 101 

rejection of this petition was, probably, that at this 
time, there were few or no persons residing there, who 
were members of the established Puritan Church in 
good standing ; and at that time, mdeed, such a 
church had not been gathered in the orthodox way. 
Two years later, however, the petition was renewed 
with better success. In 1661, it was ordered, that 
the whole group " shall be reputed and hereby allowed 
to be a township called Apledoore,^ and shall have 

1 The name Apledoore was derived from that of an ancient 
and picturesque fishing hamlet in the parish of Northam, Eng- 
land, on Barnstaple Bay, North Devon. The engraving at the 
end of this chapter is an accurate representation of the village 
at the present time. 

The English hamlet of Appledore (called by the ancient 
Saxons, Apleireo) is situated at the confluence of the rivers Taw 
and Toiridge, a few miles below Barnstaple on the former, and 
Biddeford on the latter, and being accessible at all times of tide 
has always been much used as a port by the merchants of these 
considerable towns, who have from early times been much en- 
gaged in the American trade and fisheries. 

From this neigliborliood emigrated many of the first planters 
of New Hampshire and Maine. When I was in Northam and 
Appledore, during the summer of 1874, I was struck by the great 
abundance of surnames there identical with those of the early 
settlers on the Shoals, the names of Locke, Rand, Tucker, Gar- 
.and, Kelly, Downs, Dimond, Saunders, Ford, which were to 
be read on every hand, were borne also by those fishermen, who 
conferred on their new American home the beloved name of 
Vheir native hamlet in the old country. Indeed, Edmond Pick- 
ard, one of the principal proprietors at the Shoals in 16^1 (the 



102 ISLES OF SHOALS. 

equall power to regulate their towne affaires, as othat 
townes of this jurisdiction have." ^ 

It will be observed that the Islands were by this 
act created a township, only for the " regulating their 
towne affairs." The ancient division was maintained 
in full force for County and Provincial purposes, and 
must have subjected the inhabitants to a considerable 

year tlie name was conferred), expressly describes himself in a 
Deed, as " of Northam, near Biddeford, in Devon, in Old Eng- 
land " 

The village of Appledore was once famous for Its great 
castle, called Kimoiih, in ancient days ; at the siege of which, 
saith old Camden, "in the yeare of Christ, 879, Hubba, the 
Dane, who, with many slaughters and overthrows, had harried 
the English nation, was (with many other Danes) slaine. And 
then it was that the Englishmen won the Danes' banner, called 
Reafan . . . The Danes bare in this Ensign a Raven wrought 
(by report) in needle worke by the daughters of Lothbrooke, 
that is Leatherhreech, the Dane, with such an opinion of good 
luck, as they thought it could never be wonne." — Camden's Brit- 
annia^ p. 208. 

This prophetic raven, adds another writer, drooped its wings 
before defeat, and clapped them triumphantly before a victory. 

The fortunes of the ancient Appledore has not been unlike 
that of her younger namesake. By the latest gazeteer, it appears 
Jhat trade and the fis^heries have now deserted the venerable hamlet, 
but " as there is an extensive beach and good accommodation for 
utrangers, Appledore is fast growing into notice as a bathing and 
watering place," under the name of Westward Ho ! taken from 
the title of a romance, the scene of which is laid chiefly here, 
»rrilten by Charles Kingsley. 

1 New Hamp. Prov. Pap., p. 240. 



ISLES OF SHOALS. 103 

.inconvenience, which was not obviated until 1672. In 
that year, in compKance with the petition of the 
islanders for redress of this grievance, it was or- 
dered that the whole group " be adjoined unto the 
same county, unto which Star Island belongs,"^ in 
other words, to the County of Dover and Portsmouth, 
and the Province of New Hampshire. 

This union was brief; in the year 1679, the con- 
nection between New Hampshire and Mass. Bay, 
which had now lasted for nearly forty years, was 
finally broken by the erection of New Hampshire into 
a Royal Province, under the presidency of a former 
resident and merchant of the Shoals, Mr. John Cutt. 

In this commission, the Isles of Shoals, by some 
oversight, were not mentioned ; but in that issued in 
1682 to Cranfield, it was held, by construction, that the 
south half was included, though not expressly named, 
and a warrant was issued to bring the inhabitants 
into obedience. 2 In subsequent royal commissions, 
the southerly half of the Islands was embraced by 
name. 

The original division of the group was now restored, 
the township of " Apledoore'* was dissolved; the north 
half returned to Maine, and the southerly half was 

1 4 Mass. Rec, Part iu, p. 520. 

2 1 N. II. Prov. Pap., p. 132. 



104 ISLES OF SHOALS. 

laid off once more to New Hampshire, a partition 
which has liever since been disturbed.^ 

The dividing line, as subsequently confirmed bv the 
Commissioners of the two Provinces, in 1737, ran 
' throuo-h the middle of the harbor between the islands, 
to the sea, on the southerly side"^ — a boundary 
line reaffirmed, in 1820, by convention between New 
Hampshire and Maine. 

1 Belknap's Hist, of New Hamp., p. 151. 
5* \ Belknap's ^list. of New Hamp., p. 114. 



CHAPTER XL 

FROM the earliest settlements, down to the erec- 
tion of New Hampshire, in 1679, into a Royal 
Province, the inhabitants of the Shoals had chiefly- 
dwelt, as we have stated, on Hog Island and Smutty 
Nose (alias Church) island, the northerly or Gorges 
part of the group. The shores of Star Island, how- 
ever, on account of their convenience for the fisheries, 
were very early lined with fishing stages and studded 
with fish houses. 1 

The most available space on Star Island for moor- 
ing places, stages, flakes, and fishing houses, seems to 
have been taken up before 1660, though the Church, 
Court House, and principal Ordinary still remained on 
Smutty Nose, and the majority of the population yet 
resided on the northern islands. 

But about the time when, on the erection of New 
Hampshire into a royal province, the southerly half 
zi the Shoals was reclaimed from Massachusetts and 

* Appendix No. 7. 

(105) 



106 ISLES OF SHOALS. 

annexed to the new Province, a large part of the in- 
habitants of the northerly half, for some unexplained 
reason, removed across the harbor, and took up their 
homes upon Star Island on the New Hampshire side. 
No less than forty families, according to tradition, 
crossed over from Hog Island at one time. The 
reason of this exodus, usually assigned, is that Star 
Island was thought more secure against assaults from 
the Indians ; but it is difficult to perceive the superi- 
ority of Star Island in this respect, and it is more 
probable that the removal was actuated by a desire 
to escape from the burden of Massachusetts taxation. 

At all events, the northerly part of the group be- 
came, at this time, almost depopulated ; the meeting- 
house on Smutty Nos.e or Church Island had in 1685 
fallen to decay, and courts ceased to be held there 
after 1684. Eight years later, we are informed by a 
petition from Roger Kelly, the ancient magistrate and 
taverner of Smutty Nose that there then remained 
^' on Smuttinose, alias Qhurch Island^ and Hog Isl- 
and onely your Peticon' Kelly and one more, that 
are able to set out any ffishing boats &c., notwith- 
standing all which the Treasuror of this Province 
by his Warr* hath sent to demand X 25. as a levy laid 
upon our Two poor Islands, which is a sum wee are 
altogether incapable of paying and if Insisted on will 



ISLES OF SHOALS. 107 

enforce us (as others have) to desert the Islands." ^ 
Twenty or thirty years later, we are informed by a 
doleful petition from Kittery for the remission of taxes, 
that there were seldom at ''the Isle Shoals (the north 
half thereof) more than ten or fifteen persons ratea- 
ble, and they were all poor ; had about three or four 
small boats for fishing, and they never paid half the 
rates and taxes that was added to the town of Kittery, 
upon the account of their being annexed to it; and 
besides that, as soon as they joined to Kittery several 
poor families came from thence to the town for support, 
which cost the town more money than all the rates 
and taxes that ever the Isle Shoals paid to Kittery, 
exclusive of the charges since their being so annexed. 
For several years past, the Isle Shoals has paid no 
taxes at all, though the town was taxed for them every 
year."2 

This petition of Kittery to be relieved from taxation 
sets the singular poverty of that town, of which the 
north half of the Shoals was a part, in such a 
thoroughly convincing, if not ludicrous light, that 
perhaps our readers may be amused with an epitome 
•)f it. 

" The township of Kittery," say the petitioners, " is 
ft long strip of land, a great part unprofitable ; about 
1 Appendix, No. 8. 
« See this Petition in 4th Maine Hist. Col, p. 204. 



108 ISLES OF SHOALS. 

one quarter part of the lands in said town are not 
capable of any improvement in husbandry. Such 
mossy, rocky ground and boggy swamps, as bear noth- 
ing to support any useful creatures, is not profitable 
for anything. Poor fishermen, and sailors, and some 
laborers purchased small house lotts here and there 
amongst the rocks, built little cottages to live in, on 
which lotts some may raise a bushell of Potatoes and 
a hundred cabbages, and many cannot raise as much ; 
and those cottages make a great part of the number of 
houses (so- called) throughout the town of Kittery. 
In the whole town are about 284 families, and one 
quarter of them cannot raise one bushel of corn or 
any sort of grain, in a year, nor are tliey able to raise 
a supply of any sort of provisions, but depend upon 
others for their supply. Not one in ten, through the 
whole town, does raise a full sufficiency for their own 
family s to live on the year about. The town in 
general depend upon buying, but have nothing to 
purchase withall. The fishery is dwindled into noth- 
ing. Not one fishing vessel in the town improved; 
the fishermen driven to other business and lost, leaving 
their poor and helpless widows and familys to the towr 
for support. In a great many of these houses is noth. 
ing but a continual cry of hunger, poverty and want. 



ISLES OF SHOALS. 109 

"There is not any one commodity of the produce 
of the town of Kittery, sufficient to supply the whole 
town with what is necessary for their own use. The 
inhabitants don't make, nor are they able to make, 
one half of their own clothing, neither is all the cattle 
annually raised in the town sufficient to supply the 
town with meat. 

" The town of Kittery produces no lumber . -.r 
any other commodity for any market, not so much 
as one half part of what is used in the town. 

" There is but two merchants in the town and their 
trading cannot be any thing of the produce of the 
town ; but the goods they bring to trade upon, they 
trust out to the poor, many of whom never pay. 

" There has been very little building of ships in Kit- 
ttsry, for many years past. Tradesmen have httle or 
nothing to do, farmers have nothing to spare, and 
others have nothing to live upon. 

'* There is not three rich men in the town, most all 
are very poor. Many are wretched and miserable. 
Kittery has not wood and timber enough for their own 
use. Kittery is the least quantity of land of any town 
in the county. 

" No person liveing can show that Kittery does pro- 
duce any one commodity to trade upon, of any sort , 
wt poor widows and orphans they have in plenty, more 



110 ISLES OF SHOALS. 

than any otliev town in the country. The Province 
bills never depreciated in their value so much, as Kit- 
tery has depreciated in its value. It has nothing to 
shew but integrity and honesty for its support, and 
poverty for its defence. 

" We subscribe ourselves, in behalf of the poor town 
of Kittery ; Your Humble Servants, 

Jos. Hammoxd and others." 

It is to be hoped that the rueful town of Kittery, to 
which the north half of the Isles of Shoals was then 
and has ever since been attached, experienced some 
measure of relief from this lamentable petition. It 
would be difficult to present the justice of their suppli- 
cation in a stronger or more moving light. 

It was upon Star Island, on the New Hampshire 
side, that from about the time of the royal charter of 
that Province, in 1679, the population and business of 
the group were concentrated. And the continued im- 
portance of that business appears from a statement 
of Randolph in June, 1676, that " notwithstanding 
these disturbances (from the Indians) the ffishermen 
have killed above 12000 Kintals of Codfish at the 
Islands of Sholds " ^ and in 1692, there were still re- 
siding at the islands 106 able-bodied men capable of 
military service, besides the non-resident proprietors.^ 

1 New Eng. Pap., Vol. 43, p. 86. Pub. Rec. Off., London. 

2 Letter of Capt. Willy. Appendix No. 14. 



ISLES OF SHOALS. Ill 

In 1715, by Act of the New Hampshire Provincial 
Assembly, Star Island was created a township, by 
the name of Gosport^ (sometimes written Gosper^, 
and b}^ that name was known until the extinction of 
the settlement. 

The decay of Gosport dates from about the begin- 
ning of the 18th century. Already, in 1721, we are 
told that " the inhabitants have been very much 
richer and more numerous, and their trade greater 
than at present ; that the people are very few in num- 
ber and most of them are men of no substance, live 
only by their daily fishing, and near one third of them 
are single men."^ About 1756, the population was 
still further reduced by an exteiisive migration. 
" Thirty-two Ratable poles left them to serve the 
King or removed to other places six of which had 
familys ; " ^ and in 1767, the number of residents had 
become reduced to 284, among whom were four 
slaves.^ 

On the outbreak of the War of the Revolution, " as 
it was found that these Islands afforded sustenance 
and recruits to the enemy, early in the war, the in- 
•jabitants were ordei-ed to quit the Islands. In obe- 

1 3 N. H. Prov. Pap., p. 620. 

2 See Pet. of Yeaton. Appendix No. IG. 

8 Petition of Selectmen . Appendix No. 20. 
4 1 Farmer & Moore, N. H. Hist. Col., ll>6 



112 ISLES OF SHOALS. 

dience to government, the greater part of the people 
dispersed mto the seaport towns along the coast, and 
most of them never after returned ; about twenty 
famihes removed to Old York, where their descend- 
ants now hve." 

The only evidence we have discovered, on the 
subject of the patriotism of the Shoalers during our 
struggle for independence, is the circumstance that in 
1765 " efiBgies were exhibited there (at Gosport) Sep- 
tember 16, and burnt in the evening, to show their 
detestation of stamps," ^ and that there was paid " 11 
Mch 1775, /or histing the flag to Henry Andres 20s." ^ 

So general was, at this time, the dispersion of the 
people, that in 1775 only forty-four persons were 
remaining on the islands.^ 

At the close of tho Revolutionary war, a few of the 
former inhabitants straggled back to their dilapidated 
cabins on Gosport ; but their ancient prosperity has 
never since revived. In 1790, Belknap informs us, 
the population had recovered to 93, and in 1800, as 

1 Boston Evening Post, Sept. 23, 1765 

2 This fact is one of those for -which the author is indebted to 
Mr. D. P. Corey, of Maiden. While these pages were going 
through the press, Mr. Corey generously placed at our disposal 
his large and most valuable collection of materials on the subject 
Had these papers fallen into our hands earlier, much of our labor- 
ious research would have been dispensed with. The manuscripts 
of Mr. Corey display remarkable antiquarian zeal and learning, 

33 Belknap, p. 227. 



ISLES OF SHOALS. 113 

appears from the Gosport town records, their num- 
ber was 112, " including sohtaries,'' most of them, 
continues the record, "in a state of great poverty and 
wretchedness, such as to force the tear of commisera- 
tion, and to draw from the humane every effort to 
afford rehef." 

In 1819, the number of residents on the Islands had 
become reduced to 86, and in 1824 to 69 ; since which 
time, the population has continued to dwindle away, 
year by year, until hardly one individual remains of 
the ancient race. The town of Gosport, though per- 
haps a formal town organization may be still kept up, 
has become practically extinct, and Star Island, swept 
clean of its weather-beaten cabins and unsavory fish 
houses, has been dedicated to the entertainment of 
th(j valetudinarian and the summer idler. 




CHAPTER XII. 

THE Islands, whose decay we have traced, enjoyed 
one advantage over the mamland, which, no 
doubt, contributed materially to their early prosperity 
— we mean their general exemption from Indian dep- 
redations. Capt. Christopher Levett fails not to per- 
ceive this advantage, in his visit of 1623. " Upon 
these Islands," says he, "are no savages at all." The 
brave islande]*s, however, did not fail to come to the aid 
of their more exposed brethren on the mainland, in the 
emergencies of our numerous Indian wars. The mar- 
vellous escape of John Abbott, of the Shoals, from 
captivity at the hands of the eastern tribes, in 16T6, as 
recorded by Hubbard, in his " History of the Indian 
Wars in New England," may perhaps interest our 
readers. 

John Abbott, who has been described as one of the 
" meteoric class of heroes," was probably in the em- 
ployment of Nathaniel Freyer, at his fishing establish 

(114) 



ISLES OF SHOALS. 115 

ment on Malaga Island, which, as we have seen, had 
been purchased by him in 1660, from Henry Sher- 
burne and his wife, little Becky. In company with 
young James Freyer, Abbott had sailed to Richman's 
Island, in 1676, in a ketch belonging to Freyer, and 
had there been surprised by a considerable band of sav- 
ages, under the command of a famous Sagamore, 
named Mugg. Freyer was mortally wounded, the re- 
mainder of the company taken prisoners, and all except 
John Abbott carried away captives towards Canada. 
The ketch was removed eastward to Shipscot River, 
with Abbott on board, and moored there all the next 
winter. 

" In which timo," continues Hubbard, " the Indians, 
having spent all their ammunition, etc., counted it high 
time to be looking out for more ; to which end they 
caused the said Abbott to fit up the vessel (being a 
pinnace of about thirty Tun) as well as he could, with 
such assistance as they could afford him ; and ten of 
them shipped themselves in the same, intending for 
Penobscott, and thence to pass on to Canada, in their 
canoes, to buy powder of the French there. But as 
Providence ordered it, after these Marriners were 
launched in+^^o the Deep, a small storm with contrary 
winds began to arise ; of which the English skipper 
found wayes in his steering to make the danger seem 



116 ISLES OF SHOALS. 

more than really it was, insomucli that they resolved 
to put in at Cape bona-waggon, three leagues to the 
eastward of Shipscot ; where eight of them went 
ashore, leavino; two Indians aboard with the EnMish 
skipper. After he had got so well rid of them, he con- 
trived how to get shut of the others also. Therefore 
he persuaded them that the vessel would not fide well 
in that place, so as he prevailed with them to let him 
go to another harbor called Damaris Cove, two or three 
leagues more eastward. In the way, as he sayled, he 
so ordered his steering, that sometimes the waves were 
read}/ to overtake the vessel, which put his two Indians 
into a fright, so as they made all the haste they could 
to get ashore, as soon as ever they came in the harbor 
urging him to go along with them ; but he pretended 
a necessary excuse to stay behind to look after the 
vessel, but with intent, as soon as ever he could see 
them ashore, to hoyse sayl for some EngHsh harbor, 
having nobody aboard with him but a small English 
child about three years old. It seems the Indians had 
a child or two of their own dead in the vessel, who 
dying after they began their voyage, they were for- 
warder to go ashore with them for buryal. The said 
Abbott, now perceiving he had obtained his purpose 
(for he oft resolved on this project before), first tallow- 
ing the mast with a piece of fat pork, left by the 



ISLES OF SHOALS. 117 

Indians, as high as he could reach, that he with his 
own hands might the more easily hoyse the sayl, so 
choosing rather to cast himself upon the Providence of 
God in the waters, than to trust himself any longer 
with perfidious salvages on the dry land; he came sate 
to the Isle of Shoals, before the evening of the next 
day, February the nineteenth. "^ 

There is a tradition, that during this Indian war, 
the savages invaded the Islands and carried away 
some female captives. One Betty Moody saved her- 
self by hiding, during the invasion, in a remarkable 
chasm on the southeast point of Star Island, which 
still bears her name. Others say she was drowned 
there.2 

In 1677 a contribution was raised throughout New 
England for the ransom of several inhabitants of Hat- 
field, Mass., who had been carried captive into Canada 
by the Indians, during this King Philip's War. The 
benevolence of the Shoals on this occasion was re- 
markable. The Isles of Shoals contributed a sum ex- 
ceeding that raised in Salem. ^ 

A few years after this time, the Isles of Slioals nar- 
rowly escaped utter destruction at the hands of the 
French and Indians, during the distressing and san- 

1 2 Hubbard's Ind. Wars, p. 210. 

« 7 Mass. Hist. Coll., p. 244. 1 Williamson's Maine, p. 276. 

• Drake's Boston, p. 430. 



118 ISLES OF SHOALS. 

guinarj conflict, commonly known as "King William's 
war." 

In that conflict, the w^hole coast of Maine and New 
Hampshire was devastated, and all the settlements in 
the former province utterly destroyed, except the 
four towns of Wells, Kittery, York and the Isles of 
Shoals. To capture and annihilate these remaining 
settlements, and thus close the war, the French and 
Indians, in 1691, resolved upon the most desperate 
efforts, with all the combined forces by land and sea, 
they could muster. Their design was, howevjer, for 
the present, thwarted by an accidental conflict with 
the New England forces at Pejepscot falls. The next 
year, 1692, their attempt was renewed with a large 
force. York was burned, and nearly all its inhabitants 
killed or taken prisoners ; but the heroic resistance of 
the few remaining soldiers, in their block-house, at last 
compelled the retreat of the assailants. The baffled 
enemy then turned their assault upon the next remain- 
ing town, Wells. A force of 500 French and Indians, 
under their French officers, Burneffe and Labrocree, 
fell upon the garrison at Wells, defended by but fifteen 
soldiers, under command of the heroic Capt. Converse, 
reinforced, just before the assault, by two sloops, 
having on board fourteen men. The conflict, which 
now ensued, was one of the most desperate and bloody 



ISLES OF SHOALS. 119 

that had ever occurred in New England. The stor}' 
of it, as related by Cotton Mather in his " Magnaha," 
is one of the most thrilling in our early annals ; but it 
is not within our limits to do more than refer to its 
result. After a desperate fight of forty-eight hours, 
'' prosecuted by a host against a handfull," the allies 
were beaten off with severe loss, and the projected 
expedition against the Isles of Shoals was again 
abandoned. Later in the same year, the attempt was 
renewed by a still heavier force, assisted by two French 
frigates. This last expedition was concerted at Que- 
bec, between Count Frontenac, Governor of Canada, 
and the Indian Sagamore Madockawando, and would„ 
probably, have prevailed, but for the brave patriotism 
of Mr. John Nelson. This gentleman, being at that 
time a prisoner in Quebec, obtained from Madocka- 
wando the secret of the projected enterprise, and at 
once, to the great hazard of his life, bribed two French- 
men to carry intelligence of it to Boston.^ The mes- 
sengers were captured on their return, and shot to 
death as spies, and the patriotic Nelson himself was 
transported to France, and imprisoned five years in 
solitary confinement in the Bastille. But his warning 
gave New England time to prepare for the meditated 
blow, and thus proved the salvation of the Isles of 
1 1 Hutchinson, p. 338. 



120 ISLES OF SHOALS. 

Shoals, and the few other settlements still clinging 
to the coasts of Maine. 

At the brave defence of Wells by Captain Converse, 
which we have spoken of, one John Diamond was 
taken prisoner by the Indians, and dragged away by 
his hair into the thickets. After their humiliating 
defeat, in their *' nefandous rage," the savages put 
their captive to the most dreadful tortures. " They 
stripped him," writes Cotton Mather, " they scalped 
him alive ; they slit him with knives between his 
fingers and toes ; they made cruel gashes in the most 
fleshy parts of his body, and stuck the gashes with 
firebrands, which were afterwards found sticking in 
the wounds."^ 

This poor John Diamond was a relative of Andrew 
Diamond (or Dymont), for many years a taverner 
and magistrate upon the Isles of Shoals, and himself 
a resident at Smutty Nose Island until 1667. 

The peril which impended over the Shoals, during 
this King William's war, was early manifest not only 
to the population, but to the Massachusetts authori- 
ties, who, in 1690, had appointed Roger Kelly Cap- 
tain of the Isles,^ and now, on the petition of the peo- 
ple both of the Maine and New Hampshire side, sen^ 

^ 2 Mather's Mag., p. 535; I Williamson's Maine, p. 634. 

2 Maps. Council and Court Records yf^. 



ISLES OF SHOALS. 121 

them a company of soldiers under command of Cap- 
tain Edward Willy, for their protection. 

There had existed for many years a small fort on 
the point of Star Island, commanding the harbor, on 
which had been mounted two great guns. This fort 
had probably been constructed and the guns placed on 
it about the year 1653, when an effort was made by 
the people of the Shoals, as well as those of the Pis- 
cataqua, that these places should be " fortified against 
any forraine assaults that may be attempted." ^ After 
a neglect of almost forty years, the great guns still re- 
mained, but Captain Willy found them " without any 
platforme or carrage fitt to travis them on and with- 
out powder bullet or match." Neither was much re- 
liance in the present emergency to be placed on the 
effective aid of the people themselves. The first gen- 
eration of English-born emigrants had passed away ; 
hardly a single one of the ancient family names now 
remained among the population. The Northern half 
of the Islands had become deserted, and on Star Isl- 
and the business and wealth had fallen principally 
into the hands of three chief Proprietors — Francis 
Wanewright, Andrew Dimond, and Nathaniel Baker 
— who resided in Massachusetts^ and carried on the 
fisheries at the Shoals, by means of thirdsmen, as they 
were called. Many of these hands had no fixed resi- 

1 Appendix, Note 9. 



122 ISLES OF SHOALS. 

dence on the islands, but came over from the main- 
land " for an employ only because they would be un- 
governed and free from all manner of public charge, 
and were altogether unperswadeble to any thing that 
is rational, either for quartering the soldiers or help- 
ing to defray the charges of their wages." 

The Absentee Proprietors refused to countenance 
the coming of Captain Willy and his company, on the 
ground that they had not been consulted in the mat- 
ter, and that there was no need of soldiers. Nor was 
there found on the islands any regularly constituted 
civil authority to whom Captain Willy could appl}^ for 
the imposition upon the islanders of any compulsory 
rates. In these straits, Captain Willy withdrew from 
the Islands,^ and left them exposed to the depreda- 
tions of the French, who, in 1695, captured and car- 
ried away a considerable number of their fishing 
shallops. 2 

In 1724, during the three years' or Lovewell's war, 
the savages made up a flotilla of fifty canoes, and 
strange to relate, carried on for a time a successful 
naval war along our coast. In a few weeks, they were 
in possession, by capture, of twenty-two vessels, severa. 
of good size, and one armed with swivels. They 
made an assault upon the Shoals, and succeeded in 

1 See Appendix Nos. 10 to 18. 

2 7 Mass. Hist. Coll., 1st ser., p. 245. 



isl:£.s of shoals. 123 

cutting out and carrying away two shallops, which 
they added to their fleet. The Indian squadron was 
pursued speedily by two vessels, with about forty 
men from New Hampshire, and followed into Pe- 
nobscot, where a naval battle occurred, and vic- 
tory pronounced for the savages. Shortly after, the 
Indians dispersed, and although other expeditions were 
fitted out against them, not a particle of Intelligence 
concerning them could be afterward obtained.^ 

During the war with the French and Indians, in 
1745, during which Louisburg was captured by Sir 
William Pepperell, son of the William Pepperell 
who had been an early resident at the Shoals, the old 
fort at the point of Star Island was repaired and 
mounted with nine four-pounders ; and the Province 
of New Hampshire voted " in answer to the Petition 
of ye inhabitants of Gosport, they be allow 'd fifteen 
pounds to purchase ammunition, the money to be paid 
to ye selectmen of said Gosport, for ye use of sd 
town out of ye public Treasury." ^ 

On the outbreak of the Revolutionary War, and the 
general dispersion of the population, the old fort was 
lit last dismantled, and the guns sent to Newburyport, 
but the ruins of the ancient fortification are still dis- 
cernible. 

> Penhallow's Indian Wars, p. 103; 2 Hutchinson, p. 278; 2 
Williamson, p. 128. 

2 o N. H. Prov. Pap., p. 493. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

rE pupulation of the Isles of Shoals, whose po- 
litical connection with New Hampshire and 
with Maine, we have briefly, though, we fear, te- 
diously traced, was not of a kind, after all, to be 
very deeply moved by questions of government, or 
much concerned with statutes or courts. While 
they remained annexed to Gorges' Province, the 
complaints of the Maine courts were frequent, of 
the difficulty, on account of their remoteness, of 
settling and maintaining order there.^ And a con- 
siderable proportion of the criminal complaints against 
them were for resisting, assaulting and reviling the 
officers of the law, and treating with contempt the 
awe-inspiring badge of his office.^ For instance, we 

^ York County Records. 

2 This badge, " that no man shall pleade ignorance when a 
nonstable shall call assistance," was required by statute to be " a 
staff, black and about five foots or five and a half foote long, tipped 
at ye upper end, about five or six inches, with brasse." Some 
years later (1735) these portentous staves were tipped at thi 
Shoals with pewter. 

(124) 



ISLES OF SHOALS. 125 

read in the York County Records, how that Samuel 
Matthews and Abraham Kelley, of the Shoals, were 
indicted for abusing and reviling the constable there ; 
Nicholas Hodges was presented for a similar offense; 
Robert Mace, " for abusing the constable by very op- 
probrious Languidg " ; Richard Ohver, for resisting and 
treating contumehously the magistrate's mittimus; 
Stephen Forde, " for abusing the constable, and call- 
ing him rogue and rascall " ; William Curtis, for 
assaulting his majesty's officer; Gabriel Grubb, for 
saying " he could find it in his heart to kill the con- 
stable," and Bartholomew Mitchell, Rebora Downs, 
and Bartholomew Burrington were charged with as- 
sailing the Shoals' constable " by words and blows, 
and threatening to break his neck on the rocks, and 
pulling off his neck cloth. "^ 

The hostility of the Shoalers to all manner of Gov- 
ernment rates and taxes, as well as to all sorts of 
Courts and Statutes, was ever most bitter, and some- 
times amusing. When the Massachusetts authorities, 
in 1677, undertook to collect of them a little some- 
thing towards the expenses of Government, they flew 
into open rebellion. Walter Randall fell foul of the 
constable ; Henry Joslyn climbed up into the beKry 
of the meeting-house and rang the tocsin of alarm ; 

1 York County Court Records. 



126 ISLES OF SHOALS. 

the people ran together into the church ; a combina- 
tion for open resistance was entered into, and it was 
solemnly declared, that they would never pay a penny 
of rates^ unless they had it under the hand of the 
Governor and Council, that the money raised should 
be *' laid out upon y^ Ides of SJioles. And this teas 
the end of the meeting. ^^ ^ 

The same spirit of insubordination remained among 
them, after the erection of New Hampshire, in 3679, 
into a Royal Province. In 1682, they are represented 
by the Council of New Hampshire to King Charles 
n., as " not being at present under any government at 
all";2 and after the annexation of the south half to 
New Hampshire, abundant evidence exists of their 
Utter indifference to the laws and courts of the 
mainland. The north half was never represented 
in the Mass. Genl. Court but once,^ and the south 
half very rarely, if ever, consented to send deputies 
to the New Hampshire Provincial Assembly, and paid 
little or no tribute to the Province rates. 

In 1701, Mr. James Blagdon, one of the principal 
Inhabitants of the Isles of Shoals, is ordered by the 
Council and General Assembly of the Province of 
New Hampshire, " to settle the inhabitants, where he 

1 See loose Court papers of that period at Exeter. 

2 1 Belknap, p. 151. 

^ 2 Williamson's Maine, p. 13. 



ISLES OF SHOALS. 127 

fives, under this government, and to call them together 
to appoint a Representative for said place to sit in 
Genl. Assembly and to observe such further orders 
and directions as he shall receive from the Honble. 
the Lt. Govern, concerning the same."^ As the 
Shoalers paid no manner of heed to this order. Star 
Island was again, in 1711, served with a warrant to 
send up a representative to the House f and again 
in 1716,^ but they paid no attention to either summons. 
The government, as a next* resource, thought fit, in 
1716, to annex Star Island to New Castle, for election 
and assessment purposes,* but the islanders neither 
attended the elections nor paid the rates.^ At length 
their arrearages ran up, in 1761, to the sum of X512, 
8s Id, new tenor; and the Selectmen of Gosport 
procured a vote of the Provincial Assembly, that the 
whole debt should be abated.^ Nor does it appear that 
the Provincial Government ever made any profit out 
of their recusant citizens of the Shoals, beyond, 
perhaps, a few pounds in the way of paying Province 
debts to the people of Gosport itself. For instance, 
m 1724, it seems that one Robert Saunders, of Star 
Island, had brought into Portsmouth intelligence of a 

1 3 N. H. Prov. Pap., p. 124. 4 3 Id., p. 648. 

2 Id , p. 465 . 84 Id., p. 61 7. 5 4 Id., p. 623. 
6 6 New Hamp. Prov. Pap., p. 795. Appendix No. 19. 



128 ISLES OF SHOALS. 

" pirate ship hovering about the coast." The Gen. 
Assembly allowed him for this service the sum of 40 
ghiUings, but very shrewdly added, "to be paid by 
the constable of Gosport, as he is behind hand in the 
payment of his Province rates for ye year 1723."^ 
It is not probable that Robert ever reahzed any reward 
for what some of his neighbors regarded as his officious- 
ness in reporting the pirate ship to the New Hampshire 
authorities. There is strong ground of suspicion, 
indeed, that the islanders were generally indulgent, 
and sometimes friendly and serviceable in their inter- 
course with the numerous pirate ships which visited 
their harbor. 

After the organization of the present State Govern- 
ment of New Hampshire, at the close of the Revolu- 
tion, the Shoals had fallen, as we have seen, into such 
decay, as for many years to escape the notice of the 
officials ; until, in a season of high political controversy, 
in the year 1851, a Democratic Legislature, regaiding 
the handful of fishermen at Gosport as natural up- 
holders of "free trade and sailor's rights," admitted 
their Representative to the House, since which, until 
the extinction of the town, they annually elected a 
member of General Court. 

This indiiference, or rather dislike towards all 
estabhshed authority, to which we have referred, waa 

1 4 New Hamp. Prov. Pap., p. 142. 



ISLES OF SHOALS. 129 

very natural characteristic of the motley shifting 
community of fishermen, seal hunters, sailors, smugglers 
and picaroons, who made the Isles of Shoals their 
rendezvous, and their home. Too remote from the 
mainland to be within effective reach of the feeble 
governments established there ; able to set the law 
and its officers at open defiance, or to elude them by 
a ready escape into the open sea, these rude and 
hardy men would naturally despise all courts and 
their minions, and would come to look to their own 
sturdy right arms alone for the redress of grievances.^ 

We are aware that the Rev. Jedidiah Morse, author 
of the brief " Description of the Isles of Shoals," 
printed in the 7th Vol. of the Mass. Hist. Coll., has 
described the population as, in early times, " industri- 
ous, prudent, temperate, and regular and decent in 
their attendance on the institutions of religion " ; in 
which description he has been blindly followed by all 
the subsequent writers on the subject; but as we 

1 We may mention, in illustration of this spirit among the 
Islands, that some years ago, one of these stalwart Shoals fisher- 
men was arraigned before the author, as a magistrate, upon a 
charge of " assault and battery." The man admitted frankly 
that he had severely beaten the complainant in a square stand-up 
tight, but he set up, as a complete defence, that, in his own lan- 
guage, " they had agreed to heave the law one side." His rude 
Bense of Shoals justice was sensibly shocked at a judgment 
against tho sufficiency of his plea. 
9 



130 ISLES OF SHOALS, 

have now entered upon some account of the general 
character, habits, and social and religious condition of 
the islanders, it is proper to say, that we are compelled 
by the evidence on the subject, to dissent entirely from 
that writer's conclusions. 

The class of virtues, which the learned divine 
ascribes to the Shoals community, in the times prior 
to the Revolution, not only seems inconsistent with 
the natural genius of such a community ; utterly in- 
congruous with the brave, but reckless and improvi- 
dent character of '^ toilers upon the sea"; but also 
from the abundant evidence on the subject, which 
remains to us, it is precisely that class of virtues in 
which the islanders have ever been lamentably de- 
ficient. 

No one can, we think, decipher the ancient rec- 
ords of York county, of the township of Kittery, 
of Mass. Bay and New Hampshire, or peruse the 
writings and correspondence of the time, without per- 
ceiving that the pictures usually drawn of early societj 
at the Shoals are very broad distortions of truth. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

ONE of the most remarkable peculiarities in the 
social condition of the Shoals, in very early 
times, was the exclusion by law of all women from in- 
habiting there. When and under what circumstances 
such a law was enacted, we are ignorant ; but that an 
order of Court had been passed to that effect prior to 
1647, we have the most controlling authority; while 
there is a probability, that the law was enacted even 
prior to the dissolution of the Company of Laconia in 
1635. We know, from the records, that shortly after the 
dissolution, the law was treated as already obsolete, and 
women began to make their appearance in that com- 
munity without objection. For instance, one of the 
grounds of complaint against Richard Gibson, the 
Shoals minister,^ who was arraigned in Boston in 

"* Indeed, the parson himself, who resided at the Islands during 
1641 and 1642, was a married man, and, we may presume, car- 
ried out his wife in his company. Mr. Gibson had, about 1637, 

(131) 



132 ISLES OF SHOALS. 

1642, was, in the language of Wintlirop, that "he, 
being wholly addicted to the hierarchy and discipHne 
of England, did exercise a ministerial function in the 
same way, and did marry and baptize at the Isle of 
Shoals, which was now found to be within our juris- 
diction."! 

Some excuse, if not justification, for the enactment 
of this singular rule of Court, may be found in the 
circumstances of the Shoals community in the earheet 
times. The original settlers, were, as we have re- 
marked, young unmarried men ; while the large num- 
ber of transient fishermen, who entered the harbor 
during the summers, of course brought no women in 
their company. The strange females, therefore, who 

while settled at Ricliraans Island, married Mary, daughter of 
Mr. Thomas Lewis, of Saco, and his life with her seems not to 
have been one of unruffled confidence and repose. In January, 
1638, he writes to Gov. Winthrop, in a distracted state of mind, 
how that " some troublous spirits, out of misaffection, and others, 
as is supposed for hire, have cast an aspersion upon her, and 
generally avouch that she so behaved her self in the sliipp, 
which brought her from England hither some two years agoe, 
that the block was reaved at the mayne yard to have duckt her, 
and that she was kept close in the ship's cabin 48 houres for 
Bhelter and rescue," and he therefore prays the Governor to take 
the testimony of several passengers in Boston, who came over in 
the same ship with his Mary, and " give a testimony of these 
Exacons." — 1 Mass. Hist. Coll., 5th ser., p. 267. 
1 2 Winthrop, p. 66. 



ISLES OF SHOALS. 133 

visited the islands in those days, must have been of a 
kind to provoke great disorder and Hcentiousness 
among the people, and in the end to justify their ex- 
pulsion by law. But before long, the young men 
began to marry, and married men brought their 
wives over with them from Europe. The character 
of the community in this respect underwent a change, 
and the rule of Court against the fair sex gradually, 
by general consent, fell into oblivion. 

In 1647, however, although there were at that time 
a considerable number of women residing at the Shoals, 
it was attempted to revive and enforce this now obso- 
lete law. Richard Cutt and John Cutting, of the 
Isles of Shoals, petitioned the Court, held at " Pascata- 
quack in the Province of Maine, in 1647, by his Excel- 
lency Henry Josselyn and the Associates," as follows : 



" The humble petition of Richard Cutt and John Cutting, 
sheweth : that John Renolds, contrary to an Act in Court, that 
no woman shall live upon the Isle of Shoals, hath brought his 
wife thither, with an intention there to live and abide ; and hath 
also brought upon Hog Island a great stock of goats and hogs, 
which doth not only spoile and destroy much fish, to the great 
damage of several others, and likewise many of your petitioners, 
but also doth spoile the spring of water, that is on that Island, 
by making it unfit or serviceable for any manner of use, which 
is the only relief and sustenance of all the rest of the Islands. 
Your petitioners, therefore, pray that the said Renolds may be 
or lered to remove his said groats and swine from the Islandi 



134 ISLES OF SHOALS. 

forthwith. Also, that the Act of Court, before mentioueJ, may 
be put iu execution, to the removal of all women from inhabiting 
there; and your petitioners shall pray, etc. 

ORDER OF COURT ON THE _ ABOVE. 

Whereas, by the above mentioned request, the general com- 
plaint of the chief of the fishermen and others, of the Isles of 
Shoals, that it is a great annoyance and prejudice for Mr. John 
Renolds to keep his swine and goats at the Isle of Shoals; it is 
by mutual consent of this Court ordered, that ^Ir. Renolds shall, 
within twenty days, remove his swine and goats that he hath at 
Hog Island from thence, or any of those islands that are inhab- 
ited with fishermen. And as for the removal of his wife, it is 
thought fit, if no fiirther complaint come against her, she may 
as yet enjoy the company of her husband. 

Dated the 20th day of October, 1617."i 

Although, from the above petition and order, it 
appears that the fishermen of the Shoals were gen- 
erally in favor of the expulsion of John Renolds' 
goats and swine, and although the petition was 
clearly drawn up by Cutts and Cutting, to be 
signed by " many petitioners," not a signature was 
procured by them for the expulsion of the women. 
Richard Cutt himself, although a large owner upon 
Star Island until his death, had at the time the peti- 
tion was presented, already removed his residence tc 
the Great House, at Strawberry Bank,^ and thus was 

^ York County Court Records. 
* 2 Mass. Records, p. 232. 



ISLES OF SHOALS. 135 

restrained bj no social terrors from this assault upon 
the women. Xor is it likely that either he, or his 
brother John, were upon very friendly terms with the 
hihabitants of Hog Island or Smutty Xose. These 
two brothers were staunch adherents of Mass. Bay, 
and deeply tinctured with the Puritanical spirit ; while 
r.he islanders, generally, were RoyaKsts, Episcopahans, 
and at that time in open rebellion against the Massachu- 
setts. It is thus probable, that the ungallant petition 
of Richard Cutt was a piece of spite against liis former 
neighbors, m retaliation for the jibes and flings of the 
fishwives, who, as we shall hereafter see, were, like 
fishwives the world over, the mistresses of shrewd and 
bitinor tononies. 

However this may have been, the married men 
of the Islands, when this obsolete law had been 
brouo-ht to notice, were not permitted to rest in peace, 
until it was expunged from the statute book. A peti- 
tion for the repeal of the obnoxious law was presented 
to the Court by one William Wormwood, the hapless 
husband of Jane Wormwood, who had been already 
complained of as a common scold ; and it was urged 
with such zeal, that at the General Court, held at 
Gorgeana, in 1650, " It was ordered, upon the petition 
of William Wormwood, that as the fishermen of the 
Isles of Shoals ivill entertains womanhood, they have 



136 ISLES OF SHOALS. 

liberty to sit down tliere, provided they shall not sell 
neither wine, beare, nor Hquor."^ 

We regret to add, that the " womanhood," thus 
licensed to sit down at the Shoals, did sometimes sorely 
abuse their privilege. Their offences generally con- 
sisted, it seems, in a singular volubility of tongue, and 
a certain asperity of temper. 

For instance, at the Court held at Saco, in 1665, 
Joane Forde, wife of Stephen Forde, of the Isle of 
Shoals, was presented and convicted for "calling the 
constable Hornheaded roo;ue and Cowhead rog-ue."^ 
" Joane Forde," continues the record, " was punished 
for this offence by nine stripes given her at the post, 
at a Court holden in York, Decem. 2, 1665." 

Shortly afterwards, the same Joane Forde is pre- 
sented, " for revihng and abusing the neighbors by 
very evil speeches ; and for abusing the constable and 
other her neighbours." For this offence, Joane w^as 
"appointed to have ten lashes at the post, which was," 
says the record, " by John Parker, in presence of the 
Court, accordingly executed."^ 

In 1669, Mary Kelley, wife of Roger Kelley, of the 
Shoals, is presented "for abusing of her neighbours ir 
an unseemly manner with badd words." 

^ York County Court Records. 
2 1 Maine Hist. Coll., p. 375. 



ISLES OF SHOALS. 137 

In 1666, Richard Down's wife is presented " for 
Bcoulding and abusing of her neighbours," and Gabriel 
Grubb's wife is brought before the Court "for slander- 
ing and abusing her husband." 

Joane Andrews, the same year, is convented before 
authority, "for abusing of Mrs. Lockwood," and pun- 
ished " with ten lashes on the bare skin at the whip- 
ping-post ; " and Grace Tucker, the wife of William 
Tucker, of the islands, is convicted of abusing her 
neighbors "by evill and rayling speeches." 

So serious and prevalent, indeed, was this sort of 
offence, that a law was enacted by the General Court, 
held at Gorgeana, in 1649, "that any woman, that 
shall abuse her husband, or neighborhood, or any other, 
by opprobrious language, being lawfully convicted, for 
her 1st oflPence, shall be put in the stocks two hours ; 
for her 2nd offence, to be doucked : and if incorrigable, 
for to be whipped." ^ 

For the proper infliction of the second kind of pun 
ishment, the Court ordered the erection in each town 
in Maine of a cucking stool. " This instrument," 
says Willis, " was reserved exclusively for scolds and 
brawHng women ; a class of offenders which modern 
times have permitted to go unpunished. It was a 
chair, suspended by a crane over water, into which 

1 York County Court Records. 



138 ISLES OF SHOALS. 

the offender was plunged repeatedly, until her impa- 
tience and irritability were moderated. This species 
of punishment was quite popular, both in England 
and this country, in early days."^ 

The establishment of this infamous implement among 
the termigants of the Isles of Shoals was successfully 
resisted.2 The cucking stool was not permitted to 
rise upon the breezy rocks of the Isles of Shoals, and 
the natural liberty of tongue, which the fishwives of 
Gosport and Hog Island seem to have prized so highly, 
was never afterwards assailed. 

If the goodies and gammers of the Islands were 
sometimes guilty of intemperance of language, the 
men, on the other hand, were still more intemperate 
in the abuse of intoxicating liquors, the besetting sin 
of sailors and fishermen. The character given by 
old Josselyn to this class of people along the coast of 
Maine, is not, probably, overdrawn. 

" These fishermen," writes he, about 1670, " often 
get in one voyage 8 or 9 pounds a man for their shares, 
but it doth some of them little good, for the merchant, 
to increase his gains by putting off his commodity, in 
the midst of their voyages, and at the end thereof 
comes in with a walking Tavern, a Bark laden witli 

1 1 Willis Hist, of Portland, p. 117. 

2 Id. 



ISLES OF SHOALS. 139 

the legitimate bloud of the rich grape, which they 
bring from Phial, Madera, Canaries, with Brandy, 
Rhum, the Barbadoes strong- water and Tobacco; 
coming ashore, he gives them a taster or two, which 
so charms them, that for no persuasions, that their 
employers can use, will they go out to sea, although 
fair and seasonable weather, for two or three days, 
nay, sometimes a whole week, till they are wearied 
with drinking, taking ashore two or three Hogsheads 
of Wine and Rhum, to drink off. when the merchant 
is gone. If a man of quality chance to come, where 
they are roystering and gulling in wine with a dear 
felicity, he must be sociable and Roly-poly with them, 
taking off their liberal cups as freely, or else be gone, 
which is best for him ; for when wine is at full tide, 
they quarrel, fight, and do one another mischief, whicli 
is the conclusion of their drunken compotations." ^ 

The Puritan histories of Mass. Bay abound with 
the Special Providences visited upon the Shoals fisher- 
men and their neighbors on account of this vice. 

" April 20, 1658," writes Hubbard, " was observed 
to be the coldest night in all the year, in which two 
men, going from aboard a ship, which lay in Piscataqua 
River towards Kittery side, and being so drunk that 



1 Josselyn's Voyages to New England, p. 1 



60. 



140 ISLES OF SHOALS. 

they were not able to get to the ship again, were found 
next mornincT near the shore dead." 

" June 5, 1666, one Tucker, a tailor, who belonged 
to the Isles of Shoals, being then at the point in Pis- 
cataqua River, was so drunk in the Lecture time, that, 
pulling off his clothes, he ran into the water, cursing 
and swearing, and was drowned." ^ 

About that time, " two fishermen, after sermon on 
the Lord's day at Portsmouth, going into a house, 
drank so much rum, that being intoxicated therewith, 
they fell out of their canoe, as they were going down 
the river, and were both drowned." 

" In June, 1671, one, J. S., having profanely spent 
the Lord's day, by passing to and fro from the Great 
Island to Kittery side, was so excessive drunk, that he 
fell over his canoe and was drowned, and his body not 
found till twelve days after." 

" July, 1678, one Antipas Maverick, of the Isles of 
Shoals, being observed to be often overtaken with 
drink, at the last, in that distemper, fell out of his 
canoe and was drowned. "^ 

" In Dec, 1633, one Cooper, of Pascataqua, going 

1 This was the same Tucker, we believe, whose house was 
so strangely washed away from Smutty Nose Island and cap 
ried to Cape Cod, in the great storm of 1635. 

a Hubbard's Hist, of N. England, p. 597. 



ISLES OF SHOALS. j41 

to an Island in the river there, to fetch sack to make 
merry on the Lord's day, was carried to sea and never 
heard of afterward. Thus they, that wander from the 
path of understanding shall, sooner or later, unless 
they return home hy repentance, be found in the con 
DTegation of the dead."^ 

"In the year 1643, three fishermen, belonging to 
the Isles of Shoals, very profane and scorners of re- 
Hgion, being drinking all the Lord's day, the boat was 
cast away the next week and themselves all drowned. "^ 
Others of similar "Remarkable Occurrents " may be 
found in Winthrop's History, Mather's Magnalia, etc. 
The York County records also abound with evidence, 
as to the general abuse of intoxicating liquors among 
the Shoals people. We will only instance the case of 
Roger Kelly, of Smutty Nose, who in 1667, was pres- 
ented at Court, for selling, without due license, to a 
party of ten fishermen, while " playing at ninepinS on 
Hog Island," the quantity of " twelve gallons of wine, 
which they drank in one day." ^ And besides Kelly, 
there were engaged at this time in selling spirituous 
liquors on Star Island, James Waymouth, John 
Moore, the Widow Urin, Richard Wilcom and prob- 
ably others, not only to the resident population, but 

1 Hubbard's History of New England, p. 197. 

2 1d., p. 497. 

3 York County Records. 



142 ISLES OF SHOALS. 

to the transient fishermen whose vessels still continued 
to make the harbor their rendezvous.^ 

Large numbers among the fishermen vrere ar- 
raigned and convicted of being drunkj cursing, and 
swearing; and among that number are, naturally, 
enrolled the names of those hapless husbands, whose 
wives had been punished as " notorious and common 
scolds." Richard Downs, and Gabriel Grubb, and 
Tucker, and Andrews -and Stephen Forde, among 
others, seem to have sought consolation in the bottle. 
They were all convented before authority, as being 
common drunkards, profane swearers and the like. 
John Andrews, the husband of scolding Joane, was 
convicted the same summer ''for swearing, by the blood 
of Ch — t, that he was above the Heavens and the stars, 
at which tyme the said Andrews did seeme to have 
drunke too much and did at that time call the witnesses 
doggs, toads, and foul birds." 

Without entering into further detail, we think 
our readers will be satisfied, from the illustrations 
already presented, that the inhabitants of the Isles 
of Shoals, in early times, were far indeed from being 
the " industrious, prudent, and temperate " people, 
they have been so often represented. Their virtues 
like those of all communities similarily situated, lay 
in a widely different region of human character. 
1 Exeter Court Records, 1665. 



CHAPTER XV. 



WHEN one of the New Hampshire ministers 
reproached his people, says ElHot, " that they 
had left the first purpose of their ancestors, who came 
to this howling wilderness to enjoy, without molest- 
ation, the exercise of pure principles of religion, 
one of his congregation interrupted him, saying 
truly : ' Sir, you entirely mistake the matter. Our 
ancestors did not come here on account of their re- 
ligion, but to fish and trade.' "^ The founders of the 
Isles of Shoals, such as we have described them, 
like those of Maine and New Hampshire in general, 
felt little sympathy with the religious tenets of 
New Plymouth and Massachusetts. Indeed, hardly 
more than one or two Congregational churches, after 
the New England model, had been gathered north of 
the Merrimac river, until after the country fell un- 
ler the government of Massachusetts Bay. 

1 1 Elliott's Hist, of N. England, p. 237. 

(U3) 



144 ISLES OF SHOALS. 

Any attempt to introduce the Puritan form of 
worship among tlie Eastern people was considered 
hopeless. " There is noe possibilit}-," writes William 
Hooke of Accominticus to John Winthrop in 1639-40, 
" of gathering a church here with us (after the Puri- 
tan fashion), except God in mercy open there eyes, 
and lett them see there supersticious wave, which 
they desier to goe.' "^ The Eastern people, as to what 
religion they had, were thorough-paced Episcopalians, 
or conformists to the Established Church of England. 

The Episcopal Church, at that period, contrasted 
itself from the sour austerities of the Reformers, by a 
genial patronage of gaiety and merriment, which com- 
mended it to the hearty favor of the sons of Mam- 
mon, who carried on fishing and trading around 
the Gulf of Maine. It encouraged maypoles, mor- 
ris dances, wassails and junketings of all sorts ; it 
smiled approvingly upon mince pies, cakes and 
ale, "bone lace and tiffimy hoodes," and all man- 
ner of "bravery of apparel"; while, on the other 
hand, it discountenanced the intellectual vexations 
that tormented the fantastic dissenters of that day. 
Its consecrated service book supplied, ready always 
for use, a beautiful liturgy, which was amply sufficient 

1 7 Mass. Hist. Col., 4th Ser., p. 197. 



ISLES OF SHOALS. 145 

for all the spiritual needs of the rude population of the 
Eastern settlements. 

The inhabitants of the Isles of Shoals adhered, 
accordingly, to the Established Church, until their an- 
nexation to Massachusetts Bay. Prior to 1640, the Rev. 
Joseph Hull, who was settled at Accomiiiticus, visited 
the Islands occasionally and administered the sacraments 
in the chapel on Smutty Nose. During the year 1640, 
Rev. Robert Jordan, of Richmans Island, officiated 
in a similar way, and in 1641 and 1642, Richard 
Gibson, the first minister of Strawberry Bank, was 
nettled at the Shoals. On Mr. Gibson's return to Eng- 
land in 1642, Joseph Hull, of Accominticus, renewed 
his occasional ministrations to the islanders, and as 
would appear from the inventory of his estate, main 
tained such relations until his death many years after.^ 

All these ministers were devoted adherents of the 
Established Church ; and therefore, when the Shoals 
found it necessary or expedient to yield to the author- 
ity of the Massachusetts colony, one of the first 
measures, taken by the latter, Avas to send over to the 
Islands a sound Puritan divine. His name was John 
Brock, the first of a line of Congregational ministers, 

1 Soe tlie Inventory, in York County Rec, wherein a claim 
against the Islands for £20, for pastoral services, is set down 
among his assets. 

10 



146 ISLES OF SHOALS, 

who maintained that faith on the Shoals, until the 
decay of the settlement. 

Rev. John Brock, though it seems probable that 
a portion of the inhabitants still adhered to their former 
pastor, Joseph Hull, was settled at the Shoals from 
about 1650 to 1662. " He dwelt as near Heaven," 
says Cotton Mather of him, " as any man upon earth. 
I scarce ever knew any man so familiar with the Great 
God, as his dear servant Brock."^ 

He was succeeded by the Rev. Mr. Hall, and the 
latter by Rev. Mr. Belcher. During the pastorate of 
the latter, the population of the northerly half of the 
Islands removed, as we have seen, to Star Island, on 
the New Hampshire side. The old church on Smutty 
Nose, which had now been standing upwards of half 
a century, was suffered to go to decay. In 1685 the 
northern half of the group was presented at Court 
^' for their neglect in not maintaining a sufficient meet- 
ing house for the worship of God."^ No heed 
seems to have been paid to this complaint ; the 
chief part of the inhabitants having already re- 
moved, and erected a substantial new meeting hous( 
on Star Island, a building 28 by 48 feet, with a belfry 
tind a bell. The loftiest point of the island was chosei; 

1 2 Mather's Magnalia, p. 32. 

2 York County Court Rec. 



ISLES OF SHOALS. 147 

as the site of the building, in order that its elevated 
spire might serve as a landmark for mariners ; in dark 
and tempestuous nights, the warning light may have 
gleamed from its belfry ; and in times of fog, the grop- 
ing fisherman was guided safely home by the note of its 
friendly bell. 

Mr. Daniel Greenleafe was one of the first ministers 
of the new church. He was supported in part 
by contributions from the mainland, as will appear 
from the following vote of the New Hampshire Gen. 
Assembly in 1705 : — 

" The Representatives being informed that the Gen- 
eral Assembly of the Massachusetts have given to Mr. 
Daniel Greenleafe, minister of the Isle of Shoals, 
foui'teen pound^^ provided this Province pay six pounds 
more for his support ;" 

" Voted that the Treasurer pay six pounds to Mr. 
Greenleafe for his encouragement in the ministry at 
Starr Island."^ 

When we consider that at this time there was a 
thriving community settled on Star Island, and that 
so considerable a contribution in those days as <£20 
was requisite for the encouragement of the Con- 
gregational ministry there, it seems clear that the 
population felt quite indifferent to religious concerns. 

1 3 N. H. Prov. Pap., p. 319. 



148 ISLES OF SHOALS. 

Mr. Greenleafe was succeeded, in 1706, by Mr. 
Moody, " a man of piety and a pathetic and useful 
preaclier," who remained until 1733. During Mr. 
Moody's ministrations, in 1720, a new meeting-house 
was built on Star Island at a cost of jG200, defrayed 
by the islanders. Mr. Moody was followed by Eev. 
John Tucke, the first minister regularly ordained to 
the congregation upon the Islands. He filled the 
pastoral as well as medical ofiice until his death, in 
1773, and in the words inscribed on his tombstone, 
at Star Island, " was a useful Physician both to the 
bodies and souls of his people." 

During the pastorate of Mr. Tucke, the islanders 
certainly exhibited more of thrift and sobriety than 
they had ever shown before. His influence over 
them seems to have been strong and salutary. He 
was a man who attended to the material interests of 
his parishioners, as well as their spiritual welfare. He 
spent less effort in expounding abstruse dogmas they 
could not comprehend, than in inculcating morality and 
charity in the affairs of every day life. 

His letter of acceptance of their call gave them fair 
warning that he should expect, or rather exact, a reas- 
onable stipend for his services among them. " But, 
brethren," he writes, " I must say to you, as in 1 Cor., 
ix. 14 : 'So hath the Lord ordained that they whict 



ISLES OF SHOALS. 149 

preach tlie gospel should live of the gospeh* The same I 
expect amongst you." His parishioners seem to have 
appreciated highly this frank sort of dealing. They 
paid him the liberal salary of XlOO, Province money, 
besides promising further voluntary contributions ; and 
for a part of his pastorate over them, from 1754 to 1771, 
they raised his salary to a quintal of " merchantable 
whiter fish per man." As there were ahout one 
hundred men at that time on the Islands, and a quin- 
tal of fish was reckoned at a golden guinea, the salary 
was one of the highest at that time paid in New Eng- 
land.i 

The Rev. John Tucke was buried oil Star Island. 
His grave was accidentally discovered by Dudley A. 
Tyng, Esq., on his visit to the Shoals in 1800, and a 
monument erected to his memory, with a suitable in- 
scription carved upon it.^ 

The Rev. Jeremiah Shaw succeeded Mr. Tucke in 
the ministry, and preached until the dispersion of 
the settlement, on the outbreak of the Revolution- 
ary war. From that time to the close of the cen- 
tury, the ministrations of religion were suspended. 
So few were the numbers and so impoverished the 
circumstances of the islanders during that period, 

1 7 Mass. Hist. Coll., pp. 249, 256. Gosport Records. 
* Tyng's manuscript Journal, p. 22. 



150 ISLES OF SHOALS. 

that " they had not the ability, and by degrees lost 
the disposition, to support the ministry. The peo- 
ple neolectcd the annual choice of town oificers. 
They had no regular schools. The Sabbath was 
neglected and profaned. The vices of cursing and 
swearing, drunkenness, quarrelling and disobedience 
to parents became, in an awful degree, prevalent ; and 
they were degenerating fast to a state of heathenism." 
The marital relation was often entered into without 
the sacrament of marriage, and annulled at the whim 
of the parties, without the sanction of a divorce. A 
lamentable instance is to be found recorded at length 
by Rev. Jedidiah Morse in the town books, which sets 
this laxity in a clear, though painful light. Says the 
record : — 

"Aug. 10, 1800. Thomas Mace was married to 
Hannah Randell, both of Gosport, alias Star Island, by 
Jedidiah Morse, V. D. M. 

" Richard Randall was married to Nabby Robinson, 
both of Gosport, by Jedidiah Morse, V. D. M. 

*' The two couple, above mentioned, had been pub- 
lished eight or ten years ago (but not married), and 
cohabited together since, and had each a number of 
children. Mr. Mace had been formerly married to 
another woman who had left him and cohabited with 



ISLES OF SHOALS, 151 

ner uncle, by whom she has a number of children. 
No regular divorce had been obtained. Considering 
tlie peculiar, deranged state of tlie people on these 
Islands, and the ignorance of the parties, it was 
thought expedient in order, as far as possible, to pre- 
vent future sin, to marry them." 

So profound had their ignorance become, that some 
years afterwards, one of their missionaries, Mr. Ca- 
leb Chase, found it impossible to make a record of 
their ages, as all memory on that subject had been 
lost ; according to tradition, their very language 
had so degenerated, as to be understood with difficulty 
by the people of the mainland. 

The parsonage house, constructed for Mr. Tucke, 
was taken down by his son-in-law, and carried away 
to Old York in 1780 ; and as appears from the Gosport 
town records, the meeting-house itself, which had 
stood during nearly the whole 18th century on Star 
Island, having been erected at the expense of the 
islanders, about the year 1720, was wantonly pulled 
iown about 1790, by a gang of fishermen, and used 
for fuel.^ 

The following entry of this circumstance on the 
Gosport Town Records was made by the Rev. Jedidiah 
Moi'se, during his visit to the Shoals in 1800 : — 

^ Gosport Town Records. 



152 ISLES OF SHOALS. 

" About the year 1790, some of the people of the 
baser sort, not liaving the fear of God before their 
eyes, pulled down and burnt the meetmg-house, Avhicli 
was a neat and convenient building, and had been 
greatly useful, not only as a place for religious worship, 
but as a landmark for seamen approaching this part 
of the coast. The special judgments of Heaven seem 
to have followed this piece of wickedness to those 
immediately concerned in it, who seem since to have 
been given up to work all manner of w^ickedness with 
greediness. 

'' By means of the exertions and benevolence of the 
Society for Propagating the Gospel, established in 
Boston, and some liberal minded gentlemen in New- 
buryport, Portsmouth and other places, there is a 
prospect and hope that another place of worship will 
be erected on the site of the old one, and the means 
of religious and moral instruction be again regularly 
afforded to the unfortunate and almost forsaken people 
of these Islands. 

" Star Island, alias, Gosport, 

" August 10, 1800." 

The new meeting-house was built under the super- 
vision of Dudley A. Tyng, Esq., the collector of tlie 
Dort of Newburyport ; the necessary funds were 



ISLES OF SHOALS. 153 

obtained by the voluntary contributions of humane 
people along the coast. Five hundred dollars were 
subscribed in Salem, three hundred in Portsmouth, 
about one hundred in Exeter, and the remainder, 
about five hundred dollars, was taken up in Boston 
and Newburyport. The Rev. Dr. Morse interested 
himself deeply and efficiently in procuring these 
benevolences, and also in providing for the spiritual 
and temporal welfare of the Shoals people for many 
years after. The new meeting-house w^as somewhat 
smaller than the former one, being but 36 by 24 feet 
on the outside, two feet thick, and eleven feet high in 
the clear. The walls, which are still standing, were 
built of stone, a material which was preferred by Dr. 
Morse, as having, in his own words, " two great advan- 
tao-es over wood. The inhabitants cannot hum it for 
fuel^ and it will be imperishable." 

The new meeting-house was completed and dedi- 
cated by Rev. Jedidiah Morse, on the 24th Nov., 1800. 
The interior wood-work was partially destroyed by fire 
en Jan. 2, 1826, but shortly after was restored by the 
bounty of religiously disposed people on the mainland, 
and dedicated anew in 1830.^ In 1859, the steeple of 

1 The foregoing particulars concerning the meeting-house have 
been obtained from the manuscript Journal of Mr. Tyng, now in 
my possession. 



154 ISLES OF SHOALS. 

tlie church was adorned with a vane, to the high and 
mighty pride and satisfaction of the islanders. The 
glowing entry of this transaction on the town records is 
as follows : "At a considerable expense, the inhabitants 
of these Isles have put up a beautiful vane on our 
chapel. May their own hearts yield to the breathings 
of the Divine Spirit, as that vane does to the wind." 

The meeting-house was, according to the original 
design, used during week days as a school-house, 
when a school has been maintained, and has al- 
ways proved of great service as a landmark. When 
not required for the purposes of religion or instruction, 
it has been sometimes turned to good account by the 
islanders, it is said, in the drying and storing of cod- 
fish. 




CHAPTER XVI. 

SINCE 1800, the pulpit of the Shoals has been 
filled by missionaries, supported by religious 
associations on the mainland. 

In 1799, the ancient " Society for Propagating the 
Gospell among the Indians and others in North 
America" sent out to the Islands, the Rev. Ja- 
cob Emerson, of Reading, as a pastor and school- 
master ; he remained there about three months. The 
next year (1800), the same Society procured Rev. 
Jedidiah Morse, the distinguished geographer, his- 
torian, and divine, to make an enquiry into the 
state of the people at the Shoals, and report as 
to the expediency of sending over another missionary 
and schoolmaster among them. Mr. Morse spent five 
days on the Islands, and preached four times, and 
distributed a number of books among them. On this 
occasion he also gathered up all the historical facts 
and traditions, not yet fallen into oblivion, and on his 

(155) 



156 ISLES OF SHOALS. 

return to Charlestown, prepared for the Mass. Hist. 
Collections, that valuable article on the Isles of Shoals, 
to which subsequent enquirers have been so deeply in- 
debted. By his recommendation, the " Society for 
Propagating the Gospel," etc., continued to send out 
missionaries for many years to the Islands. 

It is not within the design of this sketch to set forth 
the long catalogue of worthy and pious men (some 
thirty in number), who now succeeded each other, at 
brief intervals, in the pastoral office, until the extinc- 
tion of the settlement. We may only venture to ex- 
tract from the numerous reports of these missionaries 
to the mother Society such particulars concerning the 
social and domestic condition of the islanders during 
the last half century, as may interest the general 
reader.^ 

Mr. Josiah Stevens, one of the first of the mission- 
aries, married, in 1802, Susanna, daughter of Mr. 
Samuel Haley, Jr., of Smutty Nose, and in conse- 
quence of this connection and his interest in the people, 
he was willing to be engaged as a permanent minister. 

1 In the year 1841, the Rev. T. B. Fox, at that time settled in 
N^ewburyport, compiled, mostly from these Reports, a very inter- 
esting and accurate account of the then condition of the Islands. 
This account, together with all the other historical matter gathered 
by him, including the manuscript Journal of Dudley A. Tyng 
Mr. Fox has most kindly contributdl to our use in these pages. 



ISLES OF SHOALS. 157 

From the " Society for Propagating the Gospel," 
and from individuals, he received a salary of $300 
per annum. By the exertions uf Mr. Tyng, money 
enough was raised, and articles given by the charita- 
ble, in the town and elsewhere, to build and furnish ,\ 
parsonage house on the very spot where the house of 
Mr. Tucke had stood. Mr. Stevens received a commis- 
sion from the State of New Hampshire, as a Justice of 
the Peace ; and appears to have acted with vigor in 
his office. In one of his letters to Mr. Tyng, he asks 
for a pair of " stocks," and from a subsequent commu- 
nicaticn to the same gentleman, we learn that he 
received and used, with good effect, those now anti- 
quated instruments of punishment for evil doers. But 
he was removed in the midst of his usefulness by 
death, July 3d, 1804, aged 64. 

One of the later missionaries was Mr. Reuben 
Moody, a theological student, who remained a few 
months in the spring of 1822. '' We have been 
favored," continues Mr. Fox, ''with extracts from a 
journal kept by Mr. Moody. They are, most of 
them, of a character too private for publication. 
But to show what was the state of society at that 
time, we venture to give a few items. Under date 
!)f April 1st, he says, — ' Mr. came into my 



158 ISLES OF SHOALS. 

room and asked when I intended to open my school ? 
I answered, I could not before I had wood ; and that I 
was not authorized to purchase any ; but if the people 
were willing to purchase it, and find me a room, I was 
ready to commence it any day. After about three 
hours he sent a message to me, to come and view a 
room. I found he had provided wood and seats in a 
small but convenient room. He said, this is all I can 
do ; here is the key, and you may open your school as 
soon as you please. He afterwards gave me his reason 
for it : ' that Ms children made such a disturbance at 
home, he could not sleep in the day time.'' Again : 
April 20 — ' My school presents a singular appearance 
in the morning. As soon as they see me with my 
brand of fire and key, they all leave their plays and 
run ; and when I am building the fire they flock round 
me and squat down on the hearth like pappooses. 
Some with their books, some with their Indian bread, 
and some with none.' " 

In another part of the journal there is an account of 
an old man, who lived alone and drank forty gallons 
of rum in twelve months. But there is even a worse 
story than this to be told. "I am informed," says 
Mr. Moody, June litli, " that one poor person's rum 
bill, for one month past, amounts to four gallons he has 
cjarried home, and 175 gills drank at the house of a 



ISLES OF SHOALS. 159 

person for whom he fishes. The person with whom I 
board informs me that since I have been here, he has 
drawn out two barrels of rum ; and he has but two hired 
men, his wife, and a child thirteen months old, who with 
himself compose his family. Since the first of April, his 
brother has drawn out seven barrels of rum. Admit- 
ting the other persons, four in number, who sell rum, to 
have retailed as much, in less than three months more 
than six hundred gallons of rum have been drank here. 
The Island contains Q5 inhabitants ; of these 24 are 
under the age of twelve, 10 are females, who have not 
all drank a gallon since I have been here : subtracting 
these, there remain 31 ; to these add 16 hired men — 
making 47 men, whose average allowance has been 12 
gallons and 3 quarts to a person, or about 5 gills per 
day." 

" Mr. Origin Smith, one of the late missionaries," 
continues Mr. Fox, writing in 1841, " first visited the 
Shoals Aug. 26, 1835. Since June, 1837, he has been 
permanently settled at the Shoals with his wife and fam- 
ily. Mr. Smith is supported in part by the Society for 
Propagating the Gospel — in part by the Rev. ^Ir. Pea- 
body's parish, in Portsmouth, N. H. — in part by the 
Islanders — and in part by donations from individuals 
in this town. A few extracts from Mr. Smith's 
Reports, and a letter to the Rev. Dr. Parkman of 



160 [SLES OF SHOALS, 

Boston, will give the reader an idea of the present 
condition of the Shoals, and of the improvement that 
has taken place among them. In 1840, Mr. Smith 
says — " The people of my charge seem to be willing 
to do what tliey can for my support, yet they are able 
to do but little. For the past year they have raised 
forty dollars for my salary, and about ten dollars to 
procure fuel for the School and Sabbath. * * * 

" The cause of temperance is slowly advancing. 
About forty belong to the Temperance Society, 
which excludes all intoxicating liquors. The person 
who sold spirits the past year, has abandoned the sale, 
joined our Society, delivered an excellent address to 
the people, and pledged his future influence on the 
side of temperance. There is one man here who 
keeps spirit to sell to strangers and water parties ; but 
he does not sell to the inhabitants on the Islands. 
There are four or five drunkards on all the Islands, 
and four who call themselves ' moderate drinkers.' 
There are five men and five women who never attend 
pubhc worship — three of the men, however, will 
frequently come and sit on the steps of the meeting- 
house and listen to what is said ; but we cannot pre- 
vail upon them to enter the sanctuary." 

In 1855, Rev. J. IMason was the missionary upon the 
Islands, and in his report to the Society for Propagat 



ISLES OF SHOALS' 



16^ 



ing tlie Gospel, etc., gives an interesting account of the 
character and condition of his people at that time. 

" The kind of business which the people pursue," 
writes Mr. Mason, " aifects unfavorably their habits, 
physical, social, and religious. Family discipline is neg- 
lected ; religious duties in the household performed (if 
attended to at all), irregularly and in haste ; and much 
time, apparently wasted, is spent in watching for favor- 
able indications to pursue their calling. 

" But the people express their approval and appre- 
ciation of what is doing for them in a way peculiar to 
themselves — one evening, unsoHcited, * taking up a' 
collection ' of five dollars, made up of very ' small 
change,' to pay Mr. Mason ' for hghting the house '; 
another evening a similar sum ' for more fuel for the 
singing school'; and again surprising us unceremo- 
niously by putting a barrel of extra fine flour, a leg of 
bacon and a bucket of sugar into our back kitchen, 
saying, 'our neighbors have sent you this.' Such 
expressions of regard towards their minister should not 
be overlooked ; for ' their deep poverty abounded unto 
the riches of their liberality.' 

" We hope that our example, as well as instructions, 

while mingling with the people by their own firesides 

and in our domestic arrangement, has not been lost. 

I never refused to render aid, when solicited, even in 

11 



162 ISLES OF SHOALS. 

making a coffin for the dead ; and Mrs. Mason has had 
the privilege of exercising her taste, and trying her 
skill upon ' coats and garments,' probably not very 
dissimilar to those ' which Dorcas made.' 

'' In the relations they sustain to the missionary, 
they require of him more than is just and proper. He 
must have the whole care of the public buildings. 
This includes repairing, cleansing and preserving from 
injury. On the Sabbath and in the day schools, I 
have made, during two years past, all the fires, swept 
the buildinjTS, rano; the bell or hoisted the ' Bethel flag.' 
Furthermore, unconscious of any impropriety, they 
have sought the missionary to mow their grass, file 
their saws, repair their clocks, pull their teeth and 
make coffins for the dead. I speak of these insignifi- 
cant matters only to give you an insight into some 
peculiarities of this people. 

" In conclusion, I would add that to withdraw those 
humane ChristHke influences, which your Society have, 
through so long a period, exerted on this population, 
however slight the impressions felt, would be ruinous. 
Their degeneracy into a kind of civilized lieathenisra 
would be rapid, and the Shoals would soon show one 
of the most desolate, hopeless moral wastes in New 
England."! 

1 Report of Soc. for Prop, the Gospel among the Indians, etc, 
for year 1865. 



ISLLS OF SHOALS. 



163 



Several other missionaries succeeded to Mr. Mason, 
one of the last of whom was Rev. George Beebe, 
whose wife discharged for a time the duties of schooj- 
mistress. The Rev. Mr. Barber succeeded Mr. Beebe 
in 1867, and was followed in 1869 by the last of the 
long line of missionaries, the Rev. Mr. Hughes. For 
several years past, the pulpit has had no incumbent, 
and one by one the little band of parishioners has 
passed away from the Islands. 




.>^'' 



CHAPTER XVII. 

THE aversion of the Islanders, as well as of Maine 
and New Hampshire generally, towards the 
Puritan form of worship, was, in the early times, tc 
which we now return, no doubt deepened by their 
hostility to the political principles of the Massachu- 
setts. The founders of these Eastern parts were 
staunch royalists throughout the whole course of the 
English Rebellion. Many, if not most of them, had 
emigrated from Bristol, Dartmouth, and other parts of 
the southwest of Endand, which lono; held out for 
Prince Rupert, and fell at last struggling stoutly for the 
Royal cause. Both Mason and Gorges, the patentees 
of New Hampshire and Maine, were active royalists, 
and the latter laid down his life in the King's service. 
The civil and relioious dissensions between the tw<j 
wings of New England, during the Great Rebellion, 
ran almost as high as in the mother country itself 
The commission of the Earl of Warwick, Lord Higt 

(164) 



ISLES OF SHOALS. 165 

Admiral for the Long Parliament, was openly acknowl- 
edged in Boston, and his shij^s of war allowed to make 
prize of the King's vessels in the harbor ; while, on the 
other hand, the warrant of Prince Rupert, Admiral for 
the King, was recognized at the Eastward as the only 
lawful authority; and the "harp and cross" ensign of 
the Parliament was regarded as Httle better than pi- 
ratical. 

It is obvious, that between the loyal. Episcopalian 
sons of Belial, who inhabited the Isles of Shoals, 
during the times especially of the first planters, and 
the Puritan Commonwealth men, who " set up their 
Ebenezer" at Massachusetts Bay, intense antipathy 
must have existed. It would be curious, if not amus- 
ing, to quote a few additional passages from the Puritan 
writers of the time in illustration of that spirit. 

Says Thomas Jenner, in 1640, the people of the 
Eastern settlements " are generally very ignorant, su- 
perstitious, and vicious, and scarce any religious."^ 

Thomas Dudley, of Boston, relates that some of his 
fellow-immigrants, in 1630, proving " desperately 
wicked, hearing of men of their own disposition, 
which were planted at Piscataway, went from us to 
them ; whereby, though our numbers were lessened, 

1 7 Mass. Hist. Coll., 4tli Ser. p. 355. 



166 ISLES OF SHOALS. 

yet we accounted ourselves uotliing weakened by tlieii 
removal."^ 

Hubbard, the minister of Ipswich, tells us, how the 
stout old soldier. Captain Underbill, of Dover, being 
questioned,' in 1638, before the Court at Boston, for 
saying " that they at Boston were zealous, as the 
Scribes and Pharisees were, and as Paul was before his 
conversion," was laid under an admonition, "and how," 
continues the historian, "like a prophane person, as 
was sometimes said of Cain, he went from the presence 
of the Lord, and dwelt on the East of Eden, so this 
gentleman went to the Eastward, and made a great 
bluster amono; the inhabitants of Exeter and Dover."^ 

Many similar expressions of antipathy and contempt 
may be found in Winthrop and other early Bay writ • 
ers. The Rev. Mr. Hubbard, indeed, seems to 
have considered our Eastern affairs as entirely beneath 
his notice. 

" How great a sound soever," he writes, " is or hath 
been made about the Province of Maine, and the land 
about Piscataqua river, the whole history thereof may 
be compressed in a few words, so far as anything may 

^ Young's Chronicles, p. 315. 

2 Hubbard's Xew England, p. 353. 



ISLES OF SHOALS. 167 

be found in either of them, worthy to be communicated 
to posterity."! 

Daniel Neal, another of the Puritan historians of 
New England, writing some forty years later than 
Hubbard, seems to have entertained a similar contempt 
or our Eastern settlements. His entire account of the 
Provinces of Maine and New Hampshire, although 
professing to write a History of New England, is 
compressed into two sentences, both of which are 
conspicuous for inaccui'acy. He dismisses us as fol- 
lows : — 

" The next Province (to Nova Scotia) is New 
Hampshire, which is bounded by Kennebec river on 
the east, and Merrimack river on the west. In the 
midst of this Province is the County of Main, which, 
as I observed before, belongs to the Massachusetts, and 
contains the following considerable towns : Falmouth, 
Hedeck or New Castle, Edgartown, York, the Isles 
of Shoals, etc." ^ 

On the other hand, the invectives of the Eastern 
people against the Massachusetts, though not, perhaps, 
as decorous in lano;uao;e, were not at all inferior in 
meaning and unction. 

1 Hubbard's New Eng., p. 213. 

« 2 Neal'!< Hist, of New En-laud (Ed. 1''20), p. 578. 



168 ISLES OF SHOALS. 

A PIscataqua man, being in England, in 1632, said 
of the Massachusetts planters, " they would be a pe- 
culiar people to God, but all goe to the Devil ; they 
are a people not worthy to live on God's earth ; fellows 
that keep hoggs all the week, preach there on the 
Sabbath ; they count all men, out of their church, as 
in the state of damnation, etc."^ 

John Josselyn, of Black Point, writes of the found- 
erg of Boston, " the chiefest objects of discipline, 
Religion and morality, they want; some are of a 
Linsie-woolsie disposition, of several professions in 
religion ; all, like the Aethiopians, white in the teeth 
only, full of ludification and injurious dealing, and 
cruelty, the extremest of all vices. Great Syndies or 
censers or controllers of other men's manners, and 
savagely factious among themselves. "^ 

So, too, hard-drinking Thomas Warnerton, of Straw- 
berry Bank, in 1644, declared in his wrath, " they 
were all rogues and knaves at the Bay, and he hoped 
to see all their throats cut ; and they had no law for 
the Eastern people but to starve them."^ 

In brief, in the scriptural expressions of the time, 
the Eastern people abhorred Massachusetts, "as Hadad 

1 6 Mass. Hist. Coll., 4tli Ser., p. 486. 

'^ Josselyn's Voyages to N. England, p. 138. 

« 1 Mass. Kec, p. 15 '2. 



ISLES OF SHOALS. 169 

the Edomlte abhorred Israel," while, m return, the 
Puritans felt " a call and a rule " to smite the Phillis- 
tines at the east, "hip and thigh," upon all suitable 
occasions. There was an irreconcileable repugnance 
between them ; in temper, disposition, habit, as well 
as in political and religious principles — a lack of sym- 
pathy which endures, to some extent, even to the 
present day. 

A curious illustratioi: of the bitter hostility be- 
tween the Puritan and cavalier spirit in New Eng- 
land is to be found recorded in the Massachusetts 
Archives. 

Dr. Henry Greenland, a noted royalist, residing in 
Kittery, and naturally an enemy of the strict Puritati, 
Richard Cutt, who lived at the same time at Straw- 
berry Bank, was charged by C-utt in 1670, with hav- 
ing conspired with some pirates to kidnap Cutt from 
his dwelling-house and carry him off in their ship to 
England with all his property, to meet a merited 
punishment and confiscation from King Charles. 

Dr. Greenland, it seems, had boarded the alleged 
pirate ship called the " Mermaiden," and commended 
the plot to some of the crew, arguing " that it could 
be effected with a great deal of ease," that a small 
number of men might take Cutt and all his money 
and goods, and " that the purchase would be worth 



^'^^ ISLES OF SHOALS. 

£10,000, and that he ivould maiiitain the doing 
thereof 171 2:>oint of law, for that he said that said Cutt 
had spoken treason against the King.'^ 

The strange plot was, however, betrayed to Cutt 
and thwarted by the Massachusetts' authorities. The 
'' Mermaiden," on her leaving the Isles of Shoals, 
where she had been lying, was seized as a pirate and 
carried into Boston harbor for adjudication. ^ 

The character of the New England Puritan, or 
even of the Separatist of New Plymouth, is painfully 
sterile to the fancy, and dreary to the feelings. The 
crushing severity of their social and sumptuary laws, 
the sanctimonious formality of their daily intercourse, 
the jading monotony of their religious bigotry, blighted 
nearly every flower and sweet-scented herb, with which 
Providence has cheered and adorned human life. 

The spirit of our islanders, as well as of the early 
founders of New Hampshire and Maine in general, 
was in broad contrast, at all points, with that of the 
Puritans. Their virtues lay in the rugged domain of 
daring, fortitude, frank honesty and generosity of 
heart — robust English virtues, which, on Captain 
Smith's "heape of rocks," enjoyed a free development 
into lawless and extravagant forms, it may sometimes be 
but at the same time into a richness and a raciness 
highly pleasing to the taste. 

1 Mass. Maritime llec, Vol. 1, p. 282. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

THE golden age of the Isles of Shoals was the 
middle of the seventeenth v^entury. Their pop- 
ulation was at that time larger than at any other 
point in the Eastern provinces ; trade and commerce 
were extensive ; the fisheries were pursued with ac- 
tivity ; the little harbor was filled with shallops and 
pinnaces ; the neighboring sea was dotted with sails, 
sweeping in and out ; the rocks, now so silent and 
deserted, resounded with clamor and bustled with 
business, — everywhere boisterous hilarity, animal en- 
joyment, exuberant spirits, cheerful and varied ac- 
tivity. 

It was a motley population, with all the reckless and 
improvident habits of sailors and fishermen, and with 
till their hardihood, courage and spirit of adventure — 
a dauntless race, accustomed to contend against the 
most tremendous and appalling forces of Nature, when 
to quail or to tremble was to be lost. Their " fear- 
ful trade " tauo-ht them such lifelono; lessons of self- 

(171) 



172 ISLES OF SHOALS. 

reliance, as almost to obliterate from their minds tlie 
very sense of Divine protection and aid. 

" During the ministry of Rev. Mr. Moody," relates 
Mr. Morse, " one of the fishing shallops, with all hands 
un board, was lost in a N. E. storm in Ipswich Bay. 
Mr. Moody, anxious to improve this melancholy event, 
for the awakening of those of his hearers, who were 
exposed to the like disaster, addressed them in the fol- 
lowing language, adapted to their occupation and un- 
derstanding : 

" ' Supposing, my brethren, any of you should be 
caught in the bay, in a N. E. storm, your hearts 
trembling with fear, and nothing but death before you, 
whither would your thoughts turn? What would 
you do ?' 

" ' What would I do T replied one of these hardy 
sons of Neptune,' ' why, I should h'ist the fores'l and 
scud away for Squam.' " 

" While Mr. Brock resided at the Shoals," runs 
another anecdote, " the fishermen came to him, on a 
day devoted to the worship of God, and requested that 
they might put by their meeting that day, and go 
a-fishing, because they had lost many days by the 
foulness of the weather. He pointed out to them the 
impropriety of their request, and endeavored to con- 
vince them that it would be far better for them to stay 



ISLES OF SHOALS. 173 

at home and worship God, than to go a-fishing. Not- 
withstanding his remonstrance, however, five only 
consented to stay at home, and thirty determined to go. 
Upon this, Mr. Brock addressed them thus: 'As for 
you, who are determined to neglect your duty to God^ 
and go a-fishing, I say unto you. Catch lish, if yo'i 
can. But as for you, who will tarry and worship tlie 
Lord Jesus Christ, I will pray unto him for you, that 
you may catch fish till you are weary.' Accordingly 
the thirty who went from the meeting, with all their 
skill, caught through the day but four fishes ; while 
the five, who tarried and attended divine service, 
aftervi^ards went out and caught five hundred. "^ 

AVhatever faith we may put in this Special Provi- 
dence, we may safely believe the thirty profane fisher- 
men to have been guilty of the offence charged. It 
is not the way of fishermen, the world over, to listen 
attentively and reverently to tli*e parson's homily, 
while the fish are schooling around them. We are 
told by Sir Walter Scott, that in one of the Hebrides 
islands, it is quite canonical to break up the churcli 
service at once, on the appearance of a whale blowing 
in the offing.^ 

1 7 Mass. Hist. Coll., p. 251. 

2 It is, howeter, a point of honor that none of the parishioners 
ehould leave the church porch, until the curate has had time to 
Btrip off his surplice and come down to the door, so that all might 
Uave a fair start. 



174 ISLES OF SHOALS. 

The deeper mysteries of religion were utterly incom- 
prehensible to our ignorant fishermen ; the subtle 
distinctions, between sanctification and justification, 
between the covenant of works and the covenant 
of faith, which employed the pulpits of the Puri- 
tans, were to the people of the Shoals the dreari= 
est jargon ; while the restraints of the forms and 
observances of worship were altogether intolerable to 
their impatient natures. 

Neither was the shifting, heterogeneous character of 
the population conducive to sobriety or stability. These 
barren rocks were the resort of the Letter of Marque, 
and the pirate, who in early days infested the Gulf of 
Maine ; of the whaler and seal hunter, and of many a 
refugee and runagate from the old world. Cavaliers, 
on the downfall of the Royal cause, may have here 
found convenient hiding ; and perhaps some ship of 
Prince Rupert's fleet, scattered and broken in West 
India waters, may have here, among sympathizing 
friends, found refuge and means to refit. 

It must needs have been a picturesque spot in those 
early times. In the sunny summer days, when the 
wind failed, great hulking fishermen, in red Monmouth 
caps, leathern jerkins and clumsy boots, lolling listlessly 
about the rocks, smoking Brazil tobacco, and waiting 
patientlv for a bi'eeze — fishwives garrulously mendino 



ISLES OF SHOALS. 175 

nets in tlie sim — ragged urchins at their boisterous 
games up and down the hmes of the hamlet — groups of 
idlers hanging around the ordinaries and ale house* — 
long flakes spread with drying fish — the harbor dotted 
with ketches and pinnaces at anchor — the smoking cot- 
tage chimneys — the glittering sea — the distant coast 
line dozing in a blue haze. 

By-and-by the blue catspaws are seen on the ocean, 
the breeze freshens, and within a half hour the whole 
scene changes. Away to the east and north the vessels 
scatter and disappear. Hardly an able bodied man is 
left on the Islands. The settlements are left in guard 
of women. Silence settles dnvn on the rocks, broken 
only by shrill voices, or the occasional yelp of some vil- 
lage cur. The Islands await hi silence the fishermens' 
return. 

As the twilight comes on, the fishing boats, one by 
one, come winging home. The wind has hauled out to 
the eastward, a fog rolls in behind them, the weather 
looks threatening. And now many a Bylander, caught 
creeping along the neighboring coast, shallops, pinnaces, 
ketches and fleets of fishing craft of every kind, scud 
into the harbor for a night's refuge ; and It is not long 
before the silent rocks resound with revelry. 

Taverns and ale houses abounded on all the Islands, 
and we may be sure their walls echoed with the hoarse 



176 ISLES OF SHOALS. 

hilarity of tlie outlandish company, as the} quaffed their 

tankards of beer, tlieir passado or Barbadoes strong 

waters, or " took off their liberal cups of rhum-bullion ; " 

while, as they drank and smoked Brazil tobacco, some 

weather-beaten salt would spin the marvellous yarn, or 

recount 

" Sucli wonderful stories of battle and wrack, 
As are told by tbe men of the watcb." 

Or else, one of the chanters of the fishermen would 
pipe up, in a high key, some old forecastle ditty, or 
some ancient fishing song, that he learned in England : 

"Oh, the herring he loves the merry moonlight, 

The mackerel loves the wind, 
But the grampus he loves the fisherman's song, 

For he comes of a gentle kind/' 

Meantime Scozway, the Micmac Indian, who was 
the best fiddler along the coast, ^ would tune up his 
strings, and on the bare tavern floor the young men 
and women would dance the Brantle, the fore-and-aft 
reel, or the famous country dance of England, called 
" Cuckolds all awry." And thus, as the jargon grew 
louder, while the bowl w^ent about, the hours would 
pass away until the fog lifted or the storm was spent. 

But now nothing except the tumbled walls of a 
ruined and abandoned hamlet, so rare to see in New 
England, remain to attest the former existence upon 

1 Josselyn's Voyages, p. 106. 



ISLES OF SHOALS. 177 

these celebrated Islets, of the busy and boisterous 
settlement we have pictured. With the decline of 
the fisheries, the population have departed, and the 
sea-mews, after an absence of two centuries, have re- 
turned to their ancient haunts. 

" A heape " of rocks was the first EngHsh descrip- 
tion of tlie Isles of Shoals — "a heap of crags," 
strangely enough, is also the last. In the fine Ian* 
guage of Lowell : — 

" A heap of bare and splintery crags, 

Tumbled about by lightning and frost, 
With rifts, and chasms, and storm-bleached jags, 

That wait and growl for a ship to be lost. 
No islands ; but rather the skeleton 
Of a wrecked and veno-eance-smitten one." 




APPENDIX. 



We have thought proper to append to the foregoing pages a 
Cew o£ the documents, letters, etc., which have, in the course of 
research, fallen under our observation. These papers, too 
lengthy for insertion in the body of the text, and perhaps too 
minute and detailed to interest a general reader, may be found 
useful to the antiquary, — and will, at all events, serve as pieces 
fustijicatiues for the views, some of them novel, presented in the 
preceding sketch. 

No. I. 

Extracts from the Brief for a general collection in favor of Capt. 
Christopher Levett. 

Charles R. 

Charles, by the grace of God of England &c., to all to whom 
these p'^*'' shall come, Greeting: whereas we have been enformed 
that in respect of the differences betweene us & the Kings of 
Spaine and ffraunce, o"" loving subiects as well such as are Ad- 
ventvirers in the plantacon of Newe England in America, as 
such as are well enclyned to become Adventurers there, are soe 
much deterred and discouraged both from proceeding w"^ what 
is begun & what is by them intended, that except some spiall 
care be now taken, and some p^'sent meanes raysed for ye 
securing of the ffi<hing there and the safetie of those Coasts 
from fforeigne Enymies: .... And whereas our many urgent 
occasions doe at this P'"sent soe farr engage us for the necessary 
defence of these our Realmes and dominions, as we cannot in 
due time give any assistance or provide for the securing of those 
remote V^ . . . . whereby that plantacon soe happily begun 
and likely to prove soe advantageous and profitable to us and 

(178) 



APPENDIX. 



179 



our subjects .... is likely to be utterly lost and abandoned 
.... and whereas we have beene enformed that our welbe- 
loved subiect Captayne Christopher Levett, being one of the 
Councell for the said plantaeon, and well knoweing the said Coun- 
try and the harbo" of the same and the strength and dispossion 
of the Indians inhabiting in that Country hathe undertaken & 
offered to add unto his former adventure there all his estate, and 
to goe in p'son thither and by God's assistance either to secure 
the planters from Enimies, Keepe the possession of the said 
country on our behalf e, & secure the fishing for our English 
shipps, or else to expose his life and meanes to the uttermost 
p^^ in that service, Upon which his generous and free offer we 
have thought fitt, by the advise of our privy Councell, and 
appointed him to be Govern'' for us in those parts ; And because 
the Charges in pparing, furnishing and setting forth of shipps 
for the service at the first will be very greate .... Now 
knowe yee, that we, out of the love and affecon w*^'^ we beare to 
works of this nature .... have thought fitt .... to com- 
mend this soe pious a worke to the consideracon of all our loving 
subiects, not doubting but they .... will yield such assist- 
ance by their voluntary contribucon .... as may in some 
measure help to defray the p®^"* charge, now to be despended 
for the accomplishing thereof .... wherefore our pleasure is 
and we doe by these Presents require .... all Archbishops, 
Bishops &c., within their several Dyoces .... that they 
forthwith cause these Lres Patent .... to be read in all the 
p'^*^ churches .... and that all church wardens shall collect 
such sums of money, as shall be freely given .... and forth- 
with to pay over the same to the said Capteyne Christopher 
Levett, or to such p*°°^ as shall be by him .... appointed; 
■whom we doe think most fitt, in regard of his said employment 
to be trusted w"^ the disposing of the same. In witness whereof 
we have caused these our L'"®* to be made patent for the space 
of one whole yeare next ensuing the Date of these psente to 
endure. Witness &c.' Ex^^ per Ro. Hkath. 

(Endorsed) Collection for New England 1G27, 11th February. 

1 Sign Manual, Car. I., Vol. 5, No. 1, 1'ublic Recoid OfHce, London. 



180 APPENDIX. 



No. n. 



The Grant of the Province of Laconia to S^ Ferdinando Gorges 
and Ca// John Mason, iV' Nov. 1629. 

This Indenture made y® Seventeenth day of November Ano 
Dom. 1629, 5th of Charles, Between y^ President and Councell 
of New England on ye one partie & Sir Ferdinando Gorges of 
London, Kn* & Captain John Mason of London, Esq"* on ye 
other partie, witnesseth, that whereas King James .... did by 
letters pattent bearing date 3^*^ November 18*^ of his reign, 
grant unto y® right hon^^® Lodowick Duke of Lennox .... 
and divers others .... known by the name of President and 
Couneell established at Plymouth for planting &c. of New Eng- 
land in America, did grant unto the President & Councell 
.... all that part of y* countrey, now comonly called New 
England &c. &c. to be holden &c. &c. Now this Indenture wit- 
nesseth. y* y® s*^ President and Councell .... have granted &c. 
unto y® s*^ S"" Ferdinando Gorges and Captain John Mason, 
their heirs and assigns & to their associates & such as they 
shall alow of and take in to adventure & ioyne w^^ them in 
their plantacons traficques & discouveryes in j^ parts hereafter 
expressed, and their heirs and assynes according to Contracts 
with them to be made, all those lands & Countreys lying ad- 
jacent or bordering upon the great lake or lakes, or rivers com- 
monly called or known by y^ name of y^ river & lake or rivers & 
lakes of y^ Irroquois, a nation or nations of saluage people, in- 
habiting up into y^ landwards betwixt y® lines of west & North 
west conceived to passe or lead upwards from y® rivers of 
Sagadahock & Merrimack in y® country of New England 
afores^. Together also w*^^ y® lakes and rivers of ye Irroquois & 
other nations adioyning, the midle part of which lakes is scit- 
tuate & lying neer about ye latitude of fourty four or fourty five 
degrees reckon'd from y® Equinoctial line Northwards, as alsoe 
all y^ lands soyls and grounds w^Mn tenn miles of any part of 
ye said lakes or rivers on y® South or East part thereof & from 
y^ west end or side of y® said lakes & rivers soe farre forth to ye 
west, as shall extend half-way into y^ next great lake to the 
westwards & from thence Northwards unto y^ North side of y« 
maine river w^'^ runetli from ye orcat & vast westerne lakes & 



APPENDIX. 181 

falleth into y« river of Canada, including all y^ Islands w*Mn y* 
precinct or perambulacon described ; as alsoe all y® lands, 
havens, ports, rivers, mines, mineralls, pearls & pretious stones, 
woods, quarrys, marshes, watters, fishing, hunting, hawking, 
fowling trade & traficque w*^ y® Saluages, & other Coraodityes &, 
heriditam*^ whoever w*^ all & singular their appurtences, toge- 
ther w*'^ all prerogatives, rights, royaltys, jurisdicons, priviledges, 
•franchises, preheminences, libertyes, Marine power in & upon 
j,e gd rivers & lakes ; as alsoe all escheats & casualtys thereof, 

&c except two fifths of the oare of Gold & silver &c. 

. • . . . wch s<i porcons of lands, rivers, & lakes w*^^ y^ appurte- 
nances y® s*! S"" Ferdinando Gorges & Capt. John Mason, wth 
ye consent of y^ President & Couneell intend to name y^ Prov- 
ince of Laconia. To have & to hold all the s^ porcons of 
land &c. &c. unto y® s* S'' Ferdinando Gorges & Capt. John 
Mason their heires &c. for ever to be holden of the Manor of 
East Greenwich in y^ County of Kent in free & comon socage. 
.... yielding and paying unto the King his heirs & successors 
y® fifth part of all y^ oare of Gold & silver, that shall be gotten 
from the same. 

And y® said President & Couneell .... doe further covenant 
& grant to & w*'i y<= s<^ S"" Ferdinando Gorges &c y' it shall & 
may be lawf ull at all times hereafter to & for y^ s"^ S"" Ferdinando 

Gorges &c & y® Deputyes, factors, servants & tenants 

of them or any of them to have free Egress way & passage 
to enter & pass into & returne from & to any of y^ s*^ demised 
lands, lakes & Rivers w* their shipps boates barkes or other 
vessells with their munition & their cattle and commodityes 
of wt nature soever from by & through any of y^ land rivers 
harbours creeks or Sea Ports upon y® Sea Coasts or frontier 
parts of New England afores*i belonging to y® President and 
Couneell afores<i without any .... hindrance of them y® s*^ 
President & Couneell &c. or of any other person or persons 
slaiming under them or by their means or procurem*. And for 
y® better accomodacon of them y^ s*i S"" Ferdinando Gorges, 
& Cap^ John Mason, their heirs assigns and associates in their 
intended trafiques & plantacons above y® s*^ lakes of y^ Ir- 
roquoife, whither their goods & Marchandizes from y'^ Si'a Porta 



182 ' APPENDIX. 

are to be after landing transported it shall be la a full for y™ 
to make clioise of & take and possess for y® use of y"* y^ s*^ S' 
Ferdinando Gorges, & Cap* John Mason, their heires assigns 
& associates, and their Deputyes factors teunants & planters 
of their Colonyes in any of y*^ ports harbours or Creekes in New 
England lying most Comodious for their passage up into y^ s** 
Lakes One thousand acres of land upon y^ side or sides of 
such harbors ports rivers or creekes where y^ same is not yet 
dispossed of to any other persons by y® s*^ President & Councell 
& y® s*^ lands by y"^ shall be holden possessed & enjoyed as 
freely & with as ample priviledges, jurisdicons & comodityes in 
ail respects as any other y^ lands above in the puts demised 
& granted unto them & further knowe yee y* y^ s^ President 
& Councell have made constituted deputed authorized & ap- 
pointed & in their place & stead doe put Edw. Godfrey or in 
his absence any other person, y* shall be there Govern^ or 
other officer to y® President & Councill to be their true and law- 
full Attorney & in their name and stead to enter y® s<^ porcon of 
land & other premises w*'^ theire appurtences or into some j)art 
thereof in name of y^ whole .... and deliver possession &c. 

Signed sealed &c. the day and year above written. — Colonial 
Entry Book, Vol. 59, pp. 115 to 121, Public Rec. Office, Lon- 
don. 



No. in. 

Grant ^ Conjirmation of Pescataway to S^ Ferdinando Gorges Sf 
Cap* Mason §' others. A no 1631. 

This Lidentnre made the 3d day of Novemr Ano Dmi 1631 
and in y^ yeere of y*^ Reyne of our Soveraigne Charles by the 

Grace of God of England &c Defender of the Faith &c. 

Betweene the President & Councill of New England on y^ one 
p^>' and S*" Ferdinando Gorges Kn* & Cap* John ^Nlason of Lon- 
don Esq and their associates John Cotton, Henry Gardner, 
Geo Griffith Edwin Guy Thomas Wannerton, Thomas Eyre 
and Eliezer Eyre on y" other p'^ WITNESSETH, that whereas 
. . . (recitino- the Patent granted, 1G20, by King James to the 



APPENDIX. 183 

Presid*^ & CoimccU of New England). And whereas the s<i 
President and Councill have upon mature deliberacon thought 
fitt for the better furnishing and furtherance of y^ Pkntacon in 
these parts to appropriate and allott to several! pticular p^^^" 
diverse p°^^^^ of land w*Mn the pcincts of the afores** granted 
pniises \yj iiis Majesty's s*^ L^^s patent. Now this Indenture 
M'ittnesseth, that the s* Presid* and Councill of their full free 
and mutuall consent, as well to y« end that all the Lands, 
woodes, Lakes . . . . w*^ all other Traffique, Proffitts and Com- 
modities whatsoever to them or any of them belonging, and 
hereafter in these P'^*^ menconed may be wholly and entirely 
invested .... upon y® s"! S"" Ferdinando Gorges Cap' John 

Mason and their associates John Cotton &c as by 

divers speciall services by them already done for the advance- 
ment of the s<i Plantacon by makeing of clapboard and pipe 
staves makeing of salt panns and salt, transporting of vines for 
making of wines, searching for L'on Oare being all businesse of 
very great consequence for causeing of many soules both men 
women and boys and store of shipps to be employed thither, 
and so in short time prove a great nursery for shipping and 
mariners and also a great helpe to such as in this Kingdome 
want o-ood Imploym*. And further for y* the s*i S"" F«rd. 

Gorges, Cap* John Mason &c have by their agents 

there taken great paines and spent much tyme in the discovery 
of the Countrie, all w'^^ hath cost them (as we are credibly in- 
formed) £3,000 and upwards, which hitherto they are wholly 
out of purse upon hope doing good in time to come to y« pub- 
lique And also for other good and sufficient causes and con- 
sideracons the s^ President and Councell especialfy thereunto 
moveing Have given, granted, bargained, sold, assigned, &c. 

.... unto the S'^ Ferdinando Gorges &c All that house 

and chiefe habitacon situate and being at Pascataway al* Pas- 
cataquack al^ Pascaquacke in New England aforesaid, wherein 
Cap* AValt. Neale and y« Colony with him now doth or lately 
did reside togeather w**^ the gardens and corn ground occupied 
and planted by the s^ colonic, and the Salt workes albeady 
begun as afores*!. And also all that porcon of Land lying w^^in 
the precincts hereafter menconed, beginning upon the Sea Coast 
6 miles to the WHvard of or from the s^ Cheife Habitacon or 



184 APPENDIX. 

Plantation now possessed by the s^ Cap*. Walter Neale for y« 
use of the Adventurers to Laeonia (being in the latitude of 43 
Deg^ or thereabouts in the Harbour of Pascataquaek al^ Pascat- 
aquack al'' Passataway and so from y^ said beginning Eastw'^ & 
North Eastw*! and so proceeding Northw*^ or North Wcstw*^ into 
y*^ Harbour and River along the Coasts & Shoares thereof in- 
chiding all the Islands and Isletes lying w*Mn or neere unto the 
same upwards unto the head land opposite unto the plantacon 
or Habitacon now or late in the Tenure or Occupation of Edw*^ 
Hilton & from thence W*w^ & South W*w^ in ye rnidle of the 
River and through the midle of y® Bay or Lake of Pasquacack 
als Pascaquack or by what other name or names it hath toward 
the bottome or westermost part of y® River called Pascassocke 
to the falls thereof, and from thence by an Imaginary Line to 
pass over and to the Sea, where the Pambulacon begann. To- 
gether with all the land, soyle, &c Together with all 

prerogatives, jurisdicons, &c within the limits or bounds 

aforesaid. And also the Isles of Shoales and the Fishings there- 
abouts, And all the Seas w^Hn 15 miles of thafores^ Sea Coast. 
And also all the Sea Coast and Land lying on y® East and 
North east side of the Harboure and River of Pascataway afores*^ 
and opposite to the bounds above menconed begining 15 miles 
to the S. Eastward of y^ mouth or first Entrance and begining 
of the said Harbour and so upp to ye falls and into the ponds or 
Lakes that feed the s^ falls by the space of 30 miles including 
the sd ponds or Lakes and the shoares thereof, and so crossing 
into the landward at a right angle by the space of 3 miles the 
whole length thereof from y^ s<^ mouth or first entrance from the 
Sea and Eastw*i into the Sea which s*^ 3 miles shal be allowed 
for y® breadth of y® s*^ land last menconed both upon the land 
and sea. As also all y^ land soyle ground wood &c to- 
gether with all prerogatives &c w^Mn the P'^incts Qf j-^j-jj 

last menconed conteined. To have and to hold all y® s<^ House 

and Habitacon, porcons of land &c unto y^ s^ S'' Ferdi- 

nando Gorges, Capt. John Mason John Cotton Henry Gardner, 
Geo. Griffith Edwyn Guy, Thomas Wannerton Thom. Eyre 
E/liezer Eyre to y^ only use & behoofe of them y® s* Ferdinandc 
Gorges &c. their Heires and Ass. for ever. Yielding and pay- 
ing unto our Sover. L'' y<^ King his Heires and Successors \ of 



APPENDIX. 185 

all y« Oare of Gold and Silver that .... shall be there gotten 
.... for all services, duties and Comands ; and also yielding 
& paying unto the s* President & Councill and their Success" 
every yeere yeerely for ever 40^ ster .... if lawfully de- 
manded &c 

(Then follow the usual covenants for quiet possession and fur- 
ther assurance ; and a clause appointing Capt. Thom. Camock, 
Henry Josehn, or in then- absence some other officer of the 
Council, to deliver to the grantees seizin and possession of the 
granted premises). 

In Witnesse whereof the said President and Councill to two 
parts of these presents both of one tenor have sett their Common 
Scale and to one part thereof the s^ S'' Ferdin: Gorges Capt. 
John Mason, John Cotton, Henry Gardiner Geo: Griffith, Ed- 
win Guy Tho: Wannerton Thom: Eyre and Eliezer Eyre have 
sett their hands and Scale the Day and yeere first above writ- 
ten. — Colonial State Pap., Vol. 6, No. 28, Pubhc Rec. OfP., Lon- 
don. 



No. IV. 

COURT OF REQUESTS. 

Bills and Answers. 19 Car. I. 
Cotton vs. Gorges. 

The severall Answeare of S'^ Fardinando Gorges Knight one 
of the Defen*^ to the Bill of Complaynt of John Gotten Com- 
playnant. 

The said Defend*, saving the advantage of excepcons &c. 
.... for Answeare .... saith that he hath binne allwaies 
willinge and ready to advance and cherishe all forrayne voyages 
and adventures as thinges of principall advantage and profitt to 
this Kingdome and Comonwealth whose inclinations and affec- 
tions therein beinge as this Defend' beleeveth pticuhirly well 
knowne unto the Comp*<= Cotton and unto others the adventurers 
in the Bill named, they or some of them made theire addresse 
unto this Defend' and by themselves factors or agents ac 
quainted this Defend' with, their intentions of adventuringe for 



186 APPENDIX. 

Plantation trade and discovery in tlie Proviuce of Laconia, Pas- 
catvvay, the Isle of Slides and other partes of New England, to 
Encourage them in w*^^^ theire intended adventures he this De- 
fend' saith and confesseth that he, this Defend' did not only 
agree to joyne in adventure w'^ them on the fishing voyage in 
ilie Eill menconed, but did Av'^^all freely procure unto them sev- 
erall liberties freedomes and amunities w'Mn those Provinces 
partes and places of New England. And this Defend' for fur- 
ther Answer .... saith, that the Compl' together with this 
Defend' and others the parties in the Bill named did purpose to 
joyne together in the fishinge voyage as in the Bill is sett forthe 
and that a shippe and coniodities should be provided for that 
purpose and therein to adventure severall somes of money for 
theire perticuler accompts and beleeveth it to be true that there- 
upon choyce was made of the Compl' and of others the parties in 
the Bill named to bee the men that should on the behalfe of 
themselves and of all the foresaid adventures provide or take to 
fraught a Ship of Burthen and goodnes fit for that voyage and 
adventure, and that they should enter into Agreem' and Cov- 
en'^ by charter partie concerning the same and for payment of 
the frayht thereof, and that what they the selected persons 
should doe therein, the other Adventurers would for theire 
partes and adventures respectively stand unto and performe 
and would beare and paie anie rateable part of the frayght of 
the foresaid Shippe and any other Chardge about the same and 
to stand to all and every adventure .... either for profitte or 
losse as the selected frayghtes should doe for theire parte-s, as 
in the Bill of Complaynte is sett forth. But this Defend' saieth 
that he knoweth not of his own knowledge whether the Compl' 
and otheis in the Bill named or anie of them did deale with the 
parte owners in the Bill likewise menconed .... for the tak- 
inge to frayght of the Shippe, called the Lyon^s Whelp in the 
Bill named, or that a charter j)arty was made betweene all or anie 
of the said parties ; or that .... said part owners did to De- 
i'ln 1'^ knowledge .... covenant that said Shippe should be 
ready to dej)art and sayle out of the river Thames London 
.... or in any tyme or employment whatsoever ; .... or that 
she shovdd be stronge stanche &c. or furnished with tenn or 
any peece or peeces of Ordinances gunpowder or other artilary 



APPENDIX. 187 

or furniture Neither doth Defend* knowe .... that it 

was Directed that said Shippe should sayle first to Newe Eng- 
land, and afterAvards, if the merchants pleased to Bilboe or St 
Sabast'ons and soe retorne to London; or that it was agreed 
.... that in case said Shippe came too late to perform her 
voyage in Newe England or should not come tliither at all before 
the last daie of April that said shippe should sayle to Newfounde 
Land to make her fishing there, or that .... such directions 
were given unto John Gibbes, in the Bill named .... neither 
doth he know .... whether the Coadveuturers did joyne in 
vitelinge the foresaid Shippe or in making provision for the fore- 
said fishing voyage ; . . . . but Defend' saietli that his adventure 
for the particular accompt was the Some of Fiftie pounds only 
and not the Some of One Hundred pound or thereabouts, as in 
the Bill of Complaynt is ptended, as in and by an Accompt at- 
tested and delivered unto this Defend* under the hand of one 
Thomas Eyre Treasurer and Accomptant for the foresaid voyage 
.... doth appeare. And Defend* saieth that he knoweth not, 
when the said shippe departed on her voyage, nor howe longe shee 
was out or when shee retourned to the port of London ; nor Avhether 
the parte owners .... demanded frayght for the said Shippe 
to the tyme of her absence .... nor whether the adventurers 
did conceive that they ought not in Equitie soe to be chardged 
w*^ the payment of any fraight, for that thorowhe the unstanche- 
nes of said Shippe and the tyme spent to calke and amend her or 
thorowhe the badnes of her sayles, said Shippe Arrived not in 
Newe England before the fishinge season was past, or that the 
said Shippe stayed unprofittably there uppon the masters occa- 
sions or that she went not to Newfounde Land .... or Avhether 
she returned noe profitt but losse to the adventurers ; or, that 
thereupon .... a Bill was exhibited in the name of Compl* and 
the parteners to the foresaid charter partey (against the part 
owners to relieve them against the latter' s claim for freight) 
.... or whether the same was heard before the right Hon*^'^ the 
Lord Privy Scale in this Hon^^® Court; .... or that it was 
ihereuppon .... adjudged that the said Compl'^ skould paie 
unto the Defend** for the fraight of the foresaid Shippe the Some 
of £279 with soe much for Damages for forbearance thereof as 
would make upp the same to the Some of £300, together with 



188 APPENDIX. 

£5 costs of suite Neither doth this Defend* knowe whether 

the Compl' did out of his ovvne proper estate paie the said £305, 
or anie parte thereof; nor what the coad venturers ought to paie 
or be chardged w*^, .... but Defend' saith that his own ad- 
venture therein was only the before menconed Some of £50, as 
by the foresaid accompt doth appeare. 

All which matters and thinges this Defend* is ready to averre 
and prove, &c. Jo. Farewell, 

Report of Auditors to the Privy Council. 

According to yor Lopps Order of Reference of the 22th Feb- 
ruary 1638 directing us to examine & certifie whether the 
Promise of S"" Ferdinando Gorges to be an (adventurer) in equall 
proporcon with Cap' John Mason .... did only relate to such 
shipps as should sett out & voyages made after his said promise 
(date in June 1G32) or to the shipps set out .... before the 
date of the promise or both : Wee have examined the same 
. . . . and doe finde that said promise, made in June 1682 . . . . 
had relation to the Shipps set out and voyages made . ... he- 
fore the date of his said Promise. And it appeared clearly unto 
us that the Objection made by the said S'" Ferd. Gorges that 
his promise .... related only to such Shipps as were sett out 
& voyages made after his said Promise, was a meere subterfuge 
& altogether groundlesse, for that after his said Promise made he 
paid in £100, w'^^^ must necessarily be in relation to the voyages 
and shipps sett out before the said Promise, in regard that since 
the date of his said Promise there hath not beene any Shipp sett 
out nor voyage at all made by the said Adventurers. — Colonial 
State Papers, Vol. 10, No. 18, Public Rec. Office, London. 

Council Register, Vol. 15, p. 300, Pricy Council Office, London. 

Upon readinge of a Certificate &c on hearinge the 

Complaints made by John Michell a Minister and divers other 
poore people concerning certaine moneys due unto them from S' 
Ferdinando Gorges Kn* upon his adventures to Laconia .... 
forasmuch as it ap])eared . . . that there are moneys in arreare 
and due from S"" Ferdinando Gorges upon his said Adventures, 
which ought to goe to the satisfacon of the poore pet" and w'^out 
wh!^^ they could not be satisfied, It Avas Ordered that said Sir 



APPENDIX. 189 

Fardinando Gorges should be required forthwith . ... to make 
pa} ment of the said Arrears unto the Clark of the Councell at- 
tendant, appearinge by Certificate under the hand of Thomas 
Ayres Clarke and Register to the said Adventurers to be £254 
. . . which money is to be distributed unto the said poore people 
proportionablie, accordinge to the severall somes due unto every 
of them respectively. 

Att Whitehall the 27th June 1638. Present: 

Lo. Arc.Bp. of Cant. 
Lo. Keeper. 

(And others.) 



No. V. 

Deed from Edmond Pickard to Nicliolas Freyer^ dated July 13, 
1661. Consideration £135. 
Conveys " 2 shallops and appurtenances, mooring cable & an- 
chor and places of mooring, where now the anchor and cable 
lyeth at Smuttinose Hand, on the lies of Sholes ; also 1 stage 
& 1 stage room, with flakes & flake room, dwelling-house and 
outhouses, possessed by me & my agent at 8*1 Smuttinose, which 
said stage & flake room is situate between the stage room of 
Walter Mathews and the stage which Stephen Forde made use 
of the last year & said flake room is against the Meeting House 
at the said Island of Smuttinose. — Court Records at Exeter^ 
No. 2. 

Deed from Hugh AUard to Francis Wainwright, dated 1671, 
conveys " all my land, houses, staging &c., on Smutty Nose, 
bounded North by W" Seeley's land. East and South by House 
and land of Mr. Belchare, with flakes, &c." 

[]VIr. Belchare was at tliis time the minister at the Shoals.] 



No. yi. 

Deposition of Andrew Neivcomb, on fie at Sale7n, ]\Iass. 

Andrew Newckum, aged thirtey tow yeares or theare aboutt, 
BAvaren and saith, that in the year 1G66 the prise off irish wass 
Sett and mad at the Illcs of Showles Marchanabell fish — 



190 APPENDIX. 

thirtcy tow Rallies per quutel. this deponen' then Reccved 
severall poundes iu Mar^^* fish att the prise corrantt above 
Rightin and this deponen' knew no other prise corrantt Butt 
that above Rightin and forder saith nott. 
Taken upon 27 : 1 m*^ 16 72. 

Wm. Hathorne, As&is*. 



No. VII. 

About the middle of the 1 7th century resided on Star Island 
Richard Cutt, Rice Cadogin, Alexander Jones, Christopher Jose, 
Hercules Hunkins and his son John Hunkins, Peter Twisden 
(the magistrate), James Waymouth, William Pitt, Peter Glan- 
field (the tailor), John Davis, John Moore, Philip Tucker, John 
Fabius, John Hodgkins, Henry Tucker, and many others we 
have not space to enumerate. 



No. VHL 



Petition of Roger Kelly. 

To his Excellency S. William Phips, Kn* Cap'^ Genl^ and 
Govern"" in Cheif and to the hon^}^ The Councill and Repre- 
sentatives Convened in Generall Assembly for the Province of 
the Massechusets Bay in New-England now sitting 
The humble Peticon of Roger Kelly in Behalfe of himselfe 
and the rest of the Inhabitants of the Isles of Shoales under 
this Goverment, 
Humbly Sheweth, 

That your Peticoners being but a mean and poore people 
and wholly depending vpon ffishing for their maintainance and 
through the poverty of the Inhabitants of Smuttinose alias 
Church Island and hog Island ther is onely your Peticon' Kelly 
and one more that are able to set out any Ifishing boats without 
whom your I'eticon™ wei-e not able to get bread for their ffaniilya 
tiotwithstanding your Peticoners have not hitherto been anyway 



APPENDIX. 191 

Charable to this Province but on the other hand your Peticoner 
Kelly hath been at Considerable Charge in entertaining soldiers 
puting in here by Contrary winds goeing and coming to and from 
the Eastward and allso the poor prisoners now Com from Port 
lloyall and paying for two barr\'^ of powder and twenty six 
Armes for the defence of the Islands at the beginning of this 
warr notwithstanding all which The Treasurer of this Province 
by his warr'. hath sent to demand Twenty five pounds as a Levy 
laid vpon our Two poor Islands, which is a sum wee are alto- 
gether incapable of paying and if Insisted on will enforce us (as 
others haue) to desert the Islands. 

Your Peticoners therefore most humbly pray you will take 
the premises into yo'" graue Consideration and discharge us of 
that Levic. And yo'" Peticoners as in duty bound shall ever 
pray, &c. — Mass. Arc, 113: 76. 



No. IX. 

To the mucTi lionoured Generall Court at Boston y^ 18'* o/y* S*', 
1853. The humble Remonstrance of the Inhahhitants in Piscat- 
taqua ^ y^ Isles of Showles 

Declareth 

That wee the abovesaid Inhabbitants being lately awakened 
to apprehend our Immanent dangers for want of some necessarie 
meanes to withstand any forraine forces & being not vnsensible 
of the considerable trade both of fish and timbers exportable 
amongst vs, as well of the needfull supplies from beyond Seas 
produced to the Contrie thereby, withall waighing amongst our 
selues, how easilie the aforesaid places may be fortified by vs, as 
well as our adversaries, in case they may possesse the same, alsoe 
considering that the naturall situation of the places being such, 
as without so great charges to the contrie the same may be well 
accomplisht. Wherefore for such like reasons induceing, wee 
thought it our dutie to informe this honoured Generall Court of 
this our condition with respect to the publick good, and also 
humblie to make request that yee would be pleased so to consider 
of our desires as tliat wee may truely be well foriified against any 



192 APPENDIX. 

forraine assaults that may be attempted .... & although wee 
as yett are but few Inhabbitants in this River, & alsoe low in our 
estates yet notwithstanding wee shall endeavour to beare part of 
the Charges according to our abilities, & that with all submission 
to your mature deliberations, your selues beeing apprehensive 
how nuich the the jiublick may be heerein concerned, wee hum- 
blie therfore take our leave with a continuance of our petitions 
to the throane of grace for all sutable good. And we subscribe 
with the Consent of the rest. 

Ffor Strabery Banke \ ^^^^^ Pendleton. 

( RlCHAED CUTTS. 

ForKittery j Tho: Withees. 

(.JNic: Shapleigh. 

For r iBks of Showles \ ^'"^-^ Cadogin. 
C Phillip Babb. 



For Dover 



1 



Richard Walderne. 
Hatevill Nutter, 



In answer to this Remonstrance The Deputyes conceive that 
in regard of Inabillity for p''sent to satisfy the desires of the psons 
Coiicerned herein as also they no way Contributinge to any such 
Charge amongst o'^selues we thinke they may Rest satisfyed for 
p^sent & for time to Come we shall be Ready to afford such 
helpfullnes to the Remonstrants as Justice shall require expect- 
inge from them what others vnder o*" Jurisdiction ar subject vnto. 

William Torrey Cleric. 

We conceiue that the Peticon'"s shall haue fowre Guns by 
order of the Surueyour Gen'"ll Provided the Peticon''s shall 
fetch them allso mount them at their own charge w'^^in three 
months next after they shall be appointed & deliu^'d to them 
to the Surueyour Gen''ll or his Deputie vpon demand of the 
same, at such place as he shall appoint. 

Daniel Denison. 

Jos: Hills. 

Edw. Johnson. 
— Mass. Archives , Vol. 3, p. 212. 



APPENDIX. 193 



No. X. 

To 

The honourable Gouernour and Counsell of the Massatliuseta 
Collony sitting in Boston. 

The humble petition of the Inhabitants of Isles of Sholes. 

Much hon""*^: & worthy Gentlemen 

The prouidence of almighty god (whose Judgements are past 
finding out) hauing to our great horror and amazement, lately- 
caused eye-witnesses, of the sad destruction and ouer- 
throw of our n[eighbors] the Towne of Yorke, .... account 
our selues to be thereby sufficiently warned and therefore also 
obliged in point of discretion to arme our selues accordingly. 
Especially being deeply sensible how we lye exposed as marks 
or Butts for our enemies round about both from sea & land to 
shoot theire melevolent arrows against: as also if there should be 
an Attacke either by the Indians or French how uncapable we 
are (our men being almost all att sea euery day & somtimes a 
whole week together) to make any resistance against them, but 
must of necessity without a speedy releife & assistance be forced 
to quitt and totally forsake the place which will not only be de- 
structiue to us, but a great disaduantage, (as we conceiue) to 
the publick Interest, inasmuch as the Islands will be lef^ as Re- 
ceptacles and lurking places for our enemies. And therefore 
hope that tho we are but small branches sprung into this remote 
part upon the sea yet we shall not want your countenance and 
kindness as y® matter may require. 

And to that end we beseach and intreat your honours that wo. 
may not be left to the fauour of our enemies (whose mercies are 
cruelty) nor that confusion of Gouernement under which these 
Islands haue so long groaned, but you will please to send us a 
man of strict & good conduct with a comission for a captain e 
that may joyne with the heads of this place to bare Rule and 
ket'p order amongst us for want »vhereof we are so much debil- 
itated by the desolating distemper Diuision. As also with the 
?aid Captaine & under his command we desire Fourty sufficient 
Souldicrs fitt for sernice, whose charge both for meat drinke and 



194 APPENDIX. 

wages we will att our own cost freely disburst and and discharge- 
according to souldiers allowance : please also to send with y! cap- 
taine such ordours & liberties as your honours shall think most 
proper and conduceing to the generall wellfare of his majesties 
subjects in this place. 

.... in y*^ name & att y® desire of y® rest of us. 

RoG» Kelly. 
Isles of Sholes, John Fabes. 

Jan. 26, 1692. James Blagdox. 

Richard Waldrone. 
the marke of (R A ) Rich. Ambrgs. 
the marke of (W) Wm. Lakeman. 
Thomas Dimond. 
Phillip. 
^Mass. Arc, Vol. 37, p. 252. 



No. XI. 

Captain Willey 

You have herewith a Copy of the Pet*^?" of the principal per- 
sons of Isles of Sholes in the name of themselves and at the de- 
sire of the rest of the Inhabitants there, that a Captain, with a 
Company of Forty Souldiers might be sent unto them for the 
defence of their ma*'^^ Interests, and Subjects there, to be sup- 
ported and maintained at their own charge, and to joyne with 
the heads of the place in bearing Rule and Keeping Order among 
them. 

You are therefore forthwith to Embarque with the Company 
under yoT command, and make all possible dispatch unto the said 
Isles of Sholes, and in pursuance of yo*" Commission to intend 
their Ma*'^* Service for the defence of the said Islands and re- 
pelling any attack of French or Indian Enemies. 

You are to keep yo"^ Souldiers in good Order according to tht 
Rules and discipline of warr, and to Instruct them in the use oi 
Amies. 

You are to Suppress and punish all Curseing, prophane Swear- 
ing drunkenness and other vices. And Let the worship of Go(? 
be duly attended. 



APPENDIX. 195 

You are to take effectual care that yo' Souldiers and also the 
Inhabitants of the place do attend their duty in watching, ward- 
ing, and being sutably furnished and provided to receive the 
Enemy, and to prevent any Surprise. 

You are to joyne with and be assisting unto those already in 
Commission for the peace upon y® place in the well Ordering 
ruling and governing of the people there, for the conservation 
of the peace. 

You are to advise of what shall occur for their Ma*l^^ Service 
and to attend such further Instructions and directions as you 
shall receive from Major Elisha Hutchinson Comander in Chiefe, 
or the Governor and Council for their Ma*'.^^ Service. 

Boston, Felf^ 179 1691. 

— Mass. Arc.y Vol. 37, p. 306. 



No. XII. 

To 

The honourable Gouernour and Counsell of the Massachusets 

Collony sitting in Boston. 

The humble address §* Petition of y^ InhaUtants of Isles of 
Sholes. 

Much hon^<i & worthy Gent. 

We haueing lately receiued credible information from S'. Johns, 
as if the French and Indians certainly designe an Attacke "upon 
us speedily, which intimation we Avould account and esteem as a 
sufficient caueate; especially knowing what our present circum- 
stafiices are, and how easily they may accomplish theire designe 
against us, doe make bold to renew our former Request to your 
honours, intreating that you would be concerned for us, and take 
sf)eciall notice and cognizance of our present unhappy and dan- 
gerous condition, and please to send us some speedy assistance, 
viz., a strict cap*?, with fourty souldiers well fitted, whereby we 
may be able (at least in some respect) to defend our selues against 
those who are contriuoing our mine & destruction, & without 
which we cannot possibly keep these Islands any longer. 



196 APPENDIX. 

In granting this our earnest request you will accumulate great 
obligations upon, Gent: jl honours most humble & obedient 
Sl'uants & Petitioners in y^ name & att y® desire of the rest of 
ye Inhabitants. 

RoG^ Kelly 
Isles of Sholes. Thomas: Dimond 

Feb: 17, 1691-92. 

We desire a speedy answer that we may know how to act. — 
Mass. Archives, Vol. 37, p. 305. 



No. XIIL 



A coopey of a letter writ to Mr. Wainwright, ^c. 

Star Island, 2° Marcl, 1691. 
S"" : I haneing been sent heare by the gouero'' & Counsell of 
y« Mas sachu sets Collony with forty souldjo'^, which was ordered 
vpon the request of the Inhabitants of these Isles in obedience to 
theire commands, I am come w*^ so many men; to the defence of 
theire MajV.^ Subjects & Interest and to Joyne w*^ the heads of 
y* place in bearing rule and keeping order among them, and 
though yo^ doe not Inhabit heare among them ; by the apperance 
of yo^ conserns & number of seruants, yo^ ar concerned to con- 
tribute yo'' countinace in seteling the place by glueing yo^ aduice, 
and otherwise doeing for the welfau-e of it, I therefore desiere 
yo'" presence and M*" Dimonds heare to assist in y* matter, and 
in the meane time to order yo*" seruants so to accomodate the 
«ouldjors with quarters that they may not for want of them be 
anfited to serue theire Majs*)? and defend the place if attacked 
by french or Indian Enymis, which I hope yo" will order it being 
a debt due from yo!^ in Justice as yo^ haue an Esstale heare; 
& Righteousnes not Impouerish others for want of yo'" assistance 
in bearing yo*" part of the charge, and force them for want of 
abilitye & yo'' assistance, to solicet the gouernment y* sent us 
hcaro to call us back, who came not for a mantanance but in 
obedienc to the gouernment y* sent us heare; but we left our 
ocations and trades to serue god in seruing our Contery & being 



APPENDIX, 197 

3f defence to this people & place, the losse of which will be of 
Fuch 111 consequence, if it should be left by us & be a pray to our 
Enjinis french or others; that not oneiy their Maj'A^ Interest, 
yo'" j)ropertyes & Imploys lost but allso the rest of the nihboring 
subjects anoyed, by such as maybe heare, & y® place iscapeable 
to be a reseptacell of; but allso the gi-eate caire y® gouernra^hath 
taken of theire maj'.!^ Interest, y« people & Isles heare; in such 
aday as this, to spaire men to accomodate y^ people and place for 
theire saif ty ; be ungratf ully requited by yo^ desiering y"" Speedy 
answer, and M^" Dimonds y* I may not be forced to apply my 
selie to y^ power y* hath sent me; nor be actiue by y* power they 
haue giuen me, but I rather desier to haue your personall assist- 
ance, then to use it either by my selfe or with others heare in 
commission w*^ me for the conseruatio of y^ peace & for y^ well 
ordering, Ruleing & gouerning y^ people in this place, if yo'*' will 
not afforde yo"^ presenc, send yo^ order to yo"^ seruants heare to 
giue quarto^ to y® accomodation of y® men (y* ar sent to serue 
yo*^) sutable to yo' concerns heare, and yo'' will obledge him y* is 
& euer was since acquauted, ridy to serue yo^ and at present is 
S!f yo^ Louing jffreind &c 

Ed^. Willy. 
S*" I desier yo" to Communicat this to 

M*^ Dimond & send an answer by the 

bearer. A true Coppey E W: 

Since my writing the letter to M'' Wanewright &c. I haveing 
yit no answer but se 2 letters directed to his seruants w^^ y« fol- 
lowing order to them (vizt). To William Stephens, at Hogg 
Island Ipswich the 2 march 1691. Know yo" y* I will not 
neither entertane any man upon that cost you haue writ me of 
Either feeding of them or paying any thinge more or less towards 
y^ charge; for I Judge there is no present need & forther let any 
man of the place Know they shall not be master of my Esstate. 
the other letter to y® same effect. M"" Dimond order as ffollow- 
eth (vizt) ffreind Perkins Ipswich 4 march 169^. These ar tu 
desier yo" not to entertane any man or men in my house under 
y« notion of Souljo*'^ vnles the^ be put vpon yo" by Exspres order 
from auihoryty, then shall I be wiling to beare what they shall 
Impose to the vtniost of my abillity but for the present proceding 



198 APPENDIX. 

y* are now on foot amongst yo'^ inasmuch as it was begun w*^out 
my Consent let it carryed on w^^out Exspence for my resolution 
is That I will beare no part of this charge, and theirfore by these 
I warne yo" to admit no person into my house vnles as above. 

Signed Andrew Dimond 

Nathani.l Backers Order to John Muchmore 4 March 169-^ 
Yo"" owners admiors at y'^ doeings to take a cuppell of Souldjora 
into yo"" house yo'* owner is very angery at it, for to mantane it, 
but to turne. them out of yo^ house, if yo" keep souljors tlieir 
yo" mu.<t mantane y"^ at yo"* owne Cost & charge. 

Nath^^: Baker. 

Mrs- oj. Master Mary Baker writes to another (vizt) that ishe 
desiers to know whose action it was to put souljors into our 
house, them y* put them in must Exspect to pay for their Lodg- 
ing & dyet. S"" you & the rest haue undon the place by yo^ act- 
ings it had bene as good for yo" & vs to haue had so many Indians 
to haue come, — Signed : M: B — 

I haue not time to paraphrase vpon the aboue orders. I being 
satisfyed y* yo'" Honor's will by them se & Judge what strates I 
and the men under my Command ar put unto, for want of the 
complyance of the aboue persons to answer y!. and our Exspeta- 
tion to accomodate us as souljo'"^: y* I now am forced to Ingage 
satisfaction for the dyet of seuen souldiors There being by the 
billets of the Constables Eleuen quartered upon them the other 
fouer is Entertaned by sum of the Inhabitants y* ar more willing 
then able to lodg & dyet them but I exspect shortly they will be 
at my charg. I Humbly request yo*" Hono*"® Consideratio of our 
sercomstances to our spedy relefe. we not onely wanting free 
quarter as we exspected, but I understand the aboue persons In- 
tend spedyly to send for all their fish y' is saued & carry it to 
there habitations, wherby they may not haue any thing heare 
to defray the charge of the place or ansAvery*^ quarters or wadges 
of the souldjors, which I hope yo'" hono" will order me the stop- 
ing of or glueing countinance to me and y^ souldjors for our ?e- 
cuering from carrying away of what is heare of theire winter fish, 
for by their remoueing of it not onely their part of the chargfl 



APPENDIX. 199 

buL allso the thirds men or botes crews part will be carryed away 
y' nothing of the charge of seuen boates and what Elce will be 
their proportion of Charg for their Estates heare will be found, 
heare is crood wairhouses of thears to secuer it without damage 
therefore I with submisiO Judg no nessesty to remoue it but for 
the above reasons or the like, which I hope yo*" Hono" will not 
allow of to be of so much Inguery to them and him y* is in yo' 
Hono''^ seruice, and w^^^ all diligence and utmost of understand- 
ing is Ridy to serue yo"" Hono""^. 

whilst ED^r Willy. 

— Mass. Arc, Vol. 37, p. 310. 



^o. XIV. 



Star Islaxd I V' March 1691 
JMuch Honored & Worthy Gent%ien 

By the providence of the almighty god after being aboard 
w*^ my men two nights in an open Sloupe & one night ashore at 
Maruelhead, Tewsday y® 23''^ ffebuary in y^ morning we weyed 
ancor and ariued at the Isles of Shoales that night, whear we 
mett with kind reception from most of the Subscribers of y® pe- 
tission sent y'" Hono'^^ In Obedience to yo*" Orders I could not 
Omitt glueing an accompt & aduise what might or may occur for 
their Majsts seruice and the well ordering & ruleing y^ people 
hear, the fishermen sum of them hath no familyes hear but upon 
their voyages according to contract with their OAvners, they com 
from the maine to auoyd all publique seruice & support y*-' p''sent 
charg y* the warr calls for, as I doe Judg. others yt haue fam- 
iliys hear they doe thear utmost to accomodate men and ar will- 
ing to bear thear charge proportionable to thear abillytys though 
they plead much pouerty, so y' at present I haue not seteled 
quartors at y^ Islanders charge but thirty one men & my self, the 
Dore y' is wiling to comply is not able and the Rich (vizt.) M- 
ITrancis Wanewright, seno'' & M"" Andrew Dimond y* lives at 
l[)SAvitch & M"" Natha" Baker of Boston will not glue any assist- 
Ftanco, though they haue Estates boates & seruantes heare but 
hath giuen Order to them not to quarto'" any, so y* I am forced 



200 APPENDIX, 

to becom secueryty for dyet wliear 1 can git it for ye nacn that 
hath no seteled quarto'"^ & which matter I hope yo'" hono""^ will 
giue speedy aduise and relef me either by more fuller orders to 
force quartors or remand so many of them back to their masters 
y* wear not hiered men but prest for y'"selfes and cam uollen- 
teares in this seruice I have writt to M'^ Wanewright & M' Di- 
mond a coppey of which I haue Inclosed sent yo*" Hono''^. but as 
yet 1 haue no answer, when all the boates was at home last 
Tewsday by the Constables I gaue sumons for all y® men belong- 
ing to the Islands to appeare at Starr Island, whear the Consta- 
bles vpon thear returnes of thear warrants, gaue y^ names of one 
hundred and six men at w'^^ time I Red y*^ laws Millitary unto 
them, which directs how they should be furnished w*^ amies, they 
did then pretend they most of them haue them, but as yit I haue 
not seen them, nor shall untill sum wether y* confines y® boates 
at home giue an oppertunity, their being of y^ aboue number 
constantly in good wether about ninety of them. I hope yo' 
hono""* will be speedy in hearing my complants and answering 
them to my releif , I assuering they shall not be without nessesity, 
but all things to my best vnderstanding & exstent of the power 
giuen me (by the helpe of y^ lord almighty) be performed I hope 
to yo"" Hono'"^ satisfaction & quite w^'^out my complants. though 
my burden at presen* is great haueing but two Sargan*^ and three 
Corporalls as yit to helpe me in the affaires of the company, the 
blank Gommison being yit in my custody hear being none ca- 
pable to officiate, and ye peoples complant of the charge, and my 
unwilingnes to augment it, if I can possable perform yo"" Hono" 
seruice y' I am Intrusted in without doeing it and to the helpe 
of the conseruation of y^ peace and well ordering and ruleing 
the people and place I finde none hath power at p'"sent but M' 
John ifabins for Star Island theirfor if yo"" Hono* see meet 
to giue the like power to M*" Roger Kelley for Smutty ik sa 
Island and Hogg Island, it countinance authoryty heare, there 
being no other p^'son liueing vpon those Islands y* I doe Judge 
capal)le to serue but heare ar two two Constables one Vjx.n 
Star Island and one for smuty nose & hogg Islands. I find no 
other order amongst y'" whearby they ar capable by law to 
make raites, therfore if yo*" hono'^ think conuenient to appoynt 
& order the principell persons of y*^ Islands or so many of them 



APPENDIX. 201 

as yOu think fit of to Joyne with those y* are or may be put 
now by yoT into Commission to make raites for the defraying 
die chai'g€ of the Islands for paying the Souljo^^ or doeing any 
thing y* may be of farthur vse to their defence and saif ty against 
any of their Enymis. yo'" hon" orders therein will I uerly be- 
leue add uery much to the right ordering of those y* ar obstinate 
and the continuance of the morose fishermen in good order in 
whom I find a great alterration since I came amongst them, if the 
people be not now setelled and the place left in sum way of ca- 
pablely defending y™ selfes, many after this voyage will go of to 
}-* mayne and the place left to be a reseptacle of ovr Enymis the 
place being uery capable to be defended w^'^ a few men against a 
great many y* may com aganst them^ the Islands being naturally 
well fortyfyed, heare ar two great guns at Star Island in a small 
fort but they haue nether powder bullet nor match nor a plat- 
forme or cai-rage fitt to trauis them on, & their is a very good 
conveniency vpon Mallago Island wher at p^'sent there is no In- 
habitants to haue a platforme w* a brest work whear six guns 
& sutable amonistion, it commanding Euery Enterance y* coms 
amongst y« Islands whear thear is landing Excepting y« north 
side of hoggs Island w*^^ might be otherwise with a few men de- 
fended. If ml" Wanewright m*" Dimond or Nathanell Baker be 
in Boston I humbly request yo^ hono^* to send for them to giue 
their reasons why they doe discorge y® worke yo"^ haue sent me 
about and othei*s y* ar willing to doe the utmost of abillyty (nay 
beyond it) for the defence of the place. I doubt not but if sent 
for they will comply and not be 111 Exampells (to those y* are 
hear) any longer who will as charge Increses be of m*" Wane- 
wright & the rests minde if not timely by yo'^ hono" preuented : 
This day majo*" Hutcliinson w*^ Majo"" Vaghan and Cap* fHud 
came to vew thes Islands w*^^ I was glad to se & I hope their 
coming will make yo'" Hono" forther Orders more Redd\ ly 
Obeyed, which I pray may be speedyly sent as yoi" Hono'^ may 
Judge most meet to condvce to answer y® end for w'^^ I was sent 
and it will euer Ingage him in yo'^ bono''* service y' is yo*" Honors 
obedient & humble soru* : ' EdY Willy. 

To the Honora!'} Simon Bradstreet Esq-- and the Ilouora^.' 
rounssell of the Massathusets Collony. in New England. — Mass. 
Arc.,Yo\. 37, p. 312. 



202 APPENDIX. 

No. XV. 

To 

The honourable Gouernour and Coimsell of the Massachnsets 
CoUony sitting In Boston 

The humble address of some ofy^ Inhabitants of Isles of S holes 

Honourable Gentlemen 

What we designe to trouble you withal at this time we shall 
(under the dignation of you hon!? leave) wrap up under a testi- 
mony, complaint & further request, our testimony respects a 
gratefuU humble & hearty acknowledgement of your abundant 
fauour which you haue indulg'd us withal, inasmuch as you haue 
been pleased to grant an answer to oiu* Petition which in our 
great surprise and fear Ave made unto you : forasmuch also as 
you haue not only sent us the complement of men which we de- 
sired for our defence but also a commander and commissioner, 
in all regards beyon our Expectation and reciprocall with our 
hopes, being most suitable for us under our present circum- 
stances : nor could your hon'"^ (as we humbly imagine) haue sent 
a person more zealous for y® honour of god promoting of his wor- 
ship & furthering of the geuerall wellfare & prosperity of theire 
majesties subjects in this place, both in ciuill & ecclesiasticall 
affaires ; then he whom you haue priuiledg'd us with all We 
haue therfore to complain not of the ruler but of those who like 
Bullocks unaccustomed to the yoke are exceeding loath to be 
ruled they being many of them persons, who came here for an 
Employ only because they would l)e ungoverned & free from all 
manner of publick charge ; & such as tho heretofore we thought 
would be willing to comply with what might be for the preserua- 
tion and good of this place : yet now we finde altogether unper- 
swadable to any thing y* is rationall, either for quartering the 
souldiers or helping to defray the charge of theire wages, more- 
,)uer seuerall of the owners Avho haue y® most particular interest 
here in respect of boats and stages, & haue ahvayes carryed awaj 
the greatest proflit of this place, whereby they haue gotten the 
greatest part of theire estates, euen Those, are resolued that they 
will still get what they can, but will contribute nothing for the 



APPENDIX, 203 

maintaining of our publick charge in order to the preseruation of 
these Islands, as by theire orders to theire Seruants they haue 
signified unto us. Vpon all which accounts we must (to our un- 
speakable grief e) acquaint you, that notwithstanding the great 
obligation conferred upon us by your hon", in affordnig us your 
kinde assistance according to our own request, yet our remedy 
for the a]x)uenanied reasons; will without your further kindu3ss, 
])roue as bad, i£ not worse then the disease unto us. 

Wherefore our request follows, with which we shall conclude this 
our address jntreating you will please to giue some speedy order 
wlierby those, who, tho there persons are absent, yet haue con- 
siderable Estates and trade here, may pay theire equall propor- 
tion with other proprietors ; as also that power may be giuen to 
oblige those that are Thirdsmen & other inhabitants in the own- 
ers Employ, to allow what may be thought rationall to the charge, 
wliich will a little alleuiate, tho not so much as we must of neces- 
sity desire for furthermore we must in all humble manner assure 
your hon" that the burden under which we already groan con- 
traiy to our expectation (for we writt our Petition to you in sur- 
prised great hast, by reason of y® dreadfull apparition &c & so 
had not time to consider of it as we should) the burden we say 
is so uery exceeding great for us, tbat we cannot possibly of our 
selues be able to bare it one month together, and tho we the sub- 
scribers and seuerall others are freely willing to disbust and pay 
towards the charge according to our utmost capascity & ability, 
yet unless your hon^f for the preseruation of this part of theire 
majesties subjects & dominions (which in many respects tis a 
great pitty should be lost) will please to assist speedily in mitti- 
gating our charge & placing the greatest part of it to the publick 
account of the country in generall; we must of necessity yet 
totally quit & forsake the place in generall, as some haue already 
in particular, and therfore unless you will please to doe as aboue- 
said &c. we must Intreat an immediate order from you to draw 
of all the souldiers at theire monthes end. 

Thus we thought it our duty to returne gratitude for what 
fauour you haue already manifested to us and to spread our com- 
plaint and further request to you if your hon'* will please to take 
*peciall notice and cognizance of the one and grant the oti'er, 
you will thereby accumulate further obligations upcm those who 



204 APPENDIX. 

pray that all your enterprises may be crowned. with diuino and 
happy Success, and Keuiaine your thankfull earnest petitioners 
& humble Seruants- 
Isles of Sholes Rog'' Kelly 

March. 12. 1691-92. James Blagdon 

Richard 
y« mark of (R A) Richard Ambrose. 
the marke of (W) Wm Lakeman 
Thomas Dimond 



Phillip Odiokne 
Edward Gould 



— Mass. Arc.^ Vol. 37, p. 314. 



No. XVI. 

Starr Island, 19^^ March 169^. 
Hono'-d Sr. , 

I writt to the Honor^} Counsell last Saterday by the way of 
Pissquataquay by the Hono^^^ IVIaio'" Hutchinson & Maio' Vaughan 
then goeing from Hence being hear to vew this Gairisson and to 
se the strength of these Islands. I doubt not but yo^ will receue 
their report how matters ar heare (as well as else Avhear) agre- 
able to mine, and I hope for a spedy answer & to haue y^ forther 
comands of the counsell to strengthen my hands to y^ ordering 
and ruleing this people in reference to forther assistance in the 
eonseruation of the peace and regolateing the persons y* ar able 
& not willing to accommodate the souldjo*"^ under my command, 
the bearer our ministor is capable to y® honor'^'^'^ Counsell to giue 
a full accoumpt how matters stand heare in respect to the Islanders 
my selfe 8c souldjo''^: unto whom I hubly Refer yo^ hono". . . . 
Hono^d Sr 

y fathfull & ob^diu* Seru*., 

ED^r Willy. 



APPENDIX, '^<^5 

S' In my last I forgott to writt y« names of the principell J i»- 
habitants of these Isles. 

M'^ William Lakeman. M"" John Fabes 
" Phillip Odiorne. M"" Roger Kelley 
" Ricli:d Ambrose. M"^ James Blagdon 
M"^ Thomas Dimond 
Richard Gould 

Those y* haue Esstats upon y^ Isles 

M"" ffrancis Wanewright. 
M' Andrew Dimond. 
Natha" Baker. 
— ilfass. Arc, Vol. 37, p. 319. 



No. XVII. 



19'> March 1691 



Gent°, 

It was not a little Surprising to understand by a Letter from 
Cap°® Willey that he meets with any difficulty with you for the 
Entertainment of himself e and souldiers, when upon yo': own 
application, earnest desire and free Engagement to maintain 
them, they were not without trouble and charge raysed and sent 
unto you^ aid and succour, at a time when you seemed to be under 
a deep sense and apprehension of danger; And howeuer that 
sense may be now in some sort worn off; yet its rationally thought 
that Alike (if not greater) danger dos still continue, Nor is it 
without just fears least this Country be invaded this Spring or 
in ye Sumer advancing with a fforreign fforce by Sea; yC Selves 
lying more open to such Invasion than some others, and what a 
reproch would it be that their Ma^'^^ Subjects and Interests 
should be . . ., and not onely all their Estates but their lives 
too be lost, thro a base covetuous humor in witholding of what is 
necessary for their own just defence your Selves hitherto haue 
^hared but little in y« comon calamity with others of yo"" neigh- 
bours and fellow Subjects; nor have you contributed towards the 
charge of the War, the Support of the Souhliers now with you 
for yo*" Enforcemt and defence, will not surmount yo"" proportion 



206 APPENDIX. 

of the publick diarize upon a just Acco'.' to be made thereof ; 
Neither has anything in that kind been imposed upon you, it was 
yo^" own voluntary offer to provide them with all necessarys and 
to pay them their wages; which is accordingly expected from 
you, And that you take effectual care by such proper methods as 
you shall thinke advisable to see the same faithfully performed: 
It was not any private advantage or our mens want of imploy- 
ment at home that induced the sendeing of them abroad, their 
own particular Occasions in the mean while Suffering; but their 
Ma''^^ Service is to be prefer'd; and should the unwillingness & 
refractoriness of any among you to contribute to their support, 
obhge y^ calling of them home, it may occasion no small sorrow- 
full Reflections, when yo'' Selves and Estates become a prey to 
the Enemy, that you rejected the Assistances readily offered you 
upon yo^ desire. And Order is noAV sent unto Cap"^ Willey that 
unless he be forthw^^ sufficiently Secured his own and Companys 
wages, and comfortably provided of Quarters, that he accord- 
ingly draw off, receiving first Satisfaction for the time they have 
already been on yt service. 
To Mess's Roger Kelley, 

John Fabes To be communicated to the In- 

& James Blagdon habbitants of Isles of Sholes. 
— Mass, Arc, Vol. 37, p. 320. 



No. XVIII. 



CApNE Willey 

gr Yo's of y^ 11th currt. is lying before the Gov^ and Countdl, 
who are glad of y® Safe arrival of yoT Selfe and Company, Ex- 
pecting you would have met with a more kind reception than 
yc'-' intimate from some who have no small Interest and concerns 
upon the place ; you have with you a Copy of the Pet*=°" Signed 
by the principal persons in the name of themselves and with the 
general consent of the dwellers there that a Cap".^ with a Comp*? 
of 40 souldicrs might be sent unto their aid and defeace, and 
that good Order might be maintained among them, promiseiug 
to be at y*" whole cliarge thereof themselves ; which is not irra- 



APPENDIX. 207 

tional to Expect, considering they have hitherto contributed 
nothing towards the general defence which has been very ex- 
pensive and Avhereof they have received benefit, haveing also 
been providentially exempted from those common calamity a 
which haue befaln others of their neighbo'^^ and fellow Subjects, 
this charge upon a just computation will not exceed their 
proportion of what has been necessarily expended for the com- 
mon Safety. You may peruse the inclosed directed unto the 
Shoalers and Seal up and deliver the same ; And take the first 
opportunity to advise what Effect it hath upon the people, and 
wliither they will answer their Engagem! of bearing yo^ and 
Company'; whole charges ; which you are to take care be effec- 
tually Secured And if you find by them that they apprehend 
the charge will he, too heavy, and it be thought that fewer men 
may Serve the Occasion you may discharge some of those you 
mention that are not of y® hired men but were impres't for 
themselves or went volunteers, Seeing that they be duely paid 
for their time according to y^ accustomed allowance before they 
come away or secured the same; And finally if they will not per- 
forme their own Engagement to maintain you there, you must 
be satisfied by them for time you have already Served and draw 
off, and leave them to stand upon their own defence whil'st you 
remain Endeavour that the place be put into the best posture 
for defence it's capable of, and let yo^ souldiers be kept upon 
duty, not doubting of yo'" prudent Conduct of this whole Af- 
fayre ; In which heavens blessing attend you. 

— Mass. Arc, Vol. 37, p. 321. 



No. XIX. 



To his Excellency Sam'l Shute, Esq., Captain Generall, Governni'r 
and Commander in Chief in and over his Magesties Province 
of New Hamp.,, Sfc. 

To the Honourable the Councill and Representatives Conve7i'd in 
Gen'll Assemh'f/, now settling in Portsm'o in sd Province. 

The Petition of Richard Yeaton, one of the Selectmen of 



208 APPENDIX. 

Starr Island upon the Isles of Shoales in behalfe of the Inhabi- 
tants thereof most humbly sheweth — 

That the Selectmen of the sd Island have not expressed any 
contempt to the Authority by their omitting to make an assess- 
ment on the people thereof pursuant to the Treasurers Warrant, 
aud therefore humbly prays that your Excellency and the Hon- 
ourable Assembly would pass a favorable construction thereon, 
and also prays that your Excellency and this Honourable Assem- 
bly would be pleased to consider the following pleas In favour of 
their being excused from the Province Tax. 

The people are very few in number and most of them are men 
of no substance, live only by their daily fishing, and near one 
third of them are single men and threaten to remove and leave 
us, if the tax be laid, which will prove our utter ruin if our ffish- 
ermen leave us. 

The charge and expence which they are at in the support of 
the ministry is as great as the people can bear at present, it hav- 
ing cost them but lately the sum of Two Hundred pounds for 
that end in building a Meeting House — which is not yet all paid. 

The Government have heretofore encouraged them that they 
should be exempted from paying Province Taxes, whilst they 
exprest their forwardness in so good a service. 

Though the Inhabitants have been very much richer and more 
numerous and their Trade greater than at present, yet they were 
not then rated, nor the Inhabitants on the Islands in the Massa- 
chusetts Government, 

They live on a Rock in the Sea, and have not any Privilege of 
right in Common Lands as other Inhabitants in the resi:)ective 
Towns have. 

They have defended themselves in the time of Warr ag'st the 
publick enemy at their own expence both for forts and souldiers 
whose wages they have paid; and finally all other Towns in their 
Province have been larger and more numerous before they were 
taxed to the Province rate. 

I do with a humble confidence assure your Excellency and the 
Honouraole Assembly that we shall ever express a loyalty to hi? 



APPENDIX. 209 

Majesty and a ready obedience to the commands of the Govern- 
ment, but considering our poverty with the foregoing pleas in our 
favour, I do humbly pray that you will please to excuse us from 
the present Tax, and when we shall be better capable shall read- 
ily bear our proportion of the publick charge — and so your 
Petitioner shall ever pray, as in duty bound, &c., and subscribe 

RICH'D YEATON. 
22d April 1721. 



No. XX. 



Province of ) To Ms Excellency Benning Wentivorth, Esq. 

New Hampshire ) Captain General, Governour and Commander 

in Chief in and over the said Province, the Hon'Ue His Majes- 

tys Council and House of Representatives in General As.^emUy 

convened, January 4th, 1760. 

Humbly Shew— Henry Carter, Pdchard Talfrey and Charles 
Miller all of Gosport within said Province in behalf of themselves 
and the other inhabitants of said Gosport, that the said Inhabi- 
tants have allways chearfully paid theu- Province Tax with great 
willingness and pleasure so long as they were of ability and 
until the fonr last years when their circumstances in life became 
so low (being a few poor fishermen) and the necessaries for living 
being excessively dearer at the place of their abode one hall 
more than at any other part of the Province with the great diffi- 
culty of Transporting the same there, together with their other 
great charge supporting the Gospel ministry among them, the few- 
ness of the Inhabitants and their poverty, and theu- few within 
four years last past being Greatly Reduced, they having had 
Tliirty-Two Ratable poles within that time left them to serve the 
King or Removed to other places, Six of which had familys, and 
diere is but few very few young men among them and the neigh- 
boring Islands in the Mass. Ba.y altho very short of our number 
14 



210 APPENDIX. 

have on account of their poverty been exempted from Tax for 
Twenty years last, and altlio Warrants from the Treasurer have 
come to the selectmen of said Gosport to assess tlie Inhabitants 
for their part year after year yet the selectmen did only the first 
year assess them and on finding that was not paid the poverty of 
the Inhabitants and some Great Encouragement from Some of the 
Honble General Court that on shewing forth the Difficulties afore- 
said the same might be Remited and since they have not made any 
assesment for Province Tax, and that that was made was never 
colected and now the same amounts to a very considerable Sum, 
and if their very few and remaining Inhabitants should be oblidged 
to pay the same it would greatly tend to their Ruin, for the few 
remaining young men w^ould Remove from them Rather than pay 
any part of such back taxes as were due before some of them 
were oblidged by law to pay any, and their would be none but a 
few old helpless persons left, and we would here beg leave to 
observe to this Honble Court that had we had a representative in 
Court at the time the proportion was made, Gosport might not 
have been Taxe'd. But altho we were always informed that we 
were allow'd the Liberty of sending one member to Represent us 
in said Court yet we never asked it, knowing it would be a great 
cost to the Province more than any advantage of Tax that cou'd 
possibly be expected from the Inhabitants, for which Reason we 
never made any Enquiry intb the matter. 

AVherefore We Humbly pray the consideration of this Honble 
Court on the premises, and that you will be p'eas'd to pass such 
an Act or Resolve to take of the said Back Tax's and that we 
may be exempt for the time to come, or grant such other Relief 
therein as in your Great Wisdom shall Beem meet unto you, and 
then we from such Incouragement shall have Great Reason to 
hope that instead of our few becoming fewer we shall increase in 
our numbers and be able to pay Province Taxes with great will- 
ingness when we shall have it in our ability — and, by being 
heard in this our Request we shal as in Duty Bound ever pray 

Henry Carter ^ 
Richard Talfrey > Selectmen, 
Charles Miller S 



APPENDIX. 



211 



In Council, Jan'ry 4th, 1760, read and order'd to be sent down 
to the Hon'ble Assembly. 

THEODORE ATKINSON, Sec'y. 



> In the house of Representatives, June 5th 

> 17G1. This Petition being read 



Province of 
New Hampshire 

Voted, That the prayer thereof be granted, and that the sum 
of five hundred and Twelve pounds Eight shillings and one 
penny new Tenor, that appearing to be the sum due from Gos- 
port for the province Tax be Remitted, and that the Treasurer 
he hereby Intitled to charge the said sum to the Province. 

A. CLARKSON, Clerk. 
£512 8 1 new Tenor. 

In Council June the 16 — 1761. 
Read and Concurred. 

THEODORE ATKINSON, Sec% 
Consented to 

B. WENTWORTH. 



No. XXI. 



To his Excellency Benning Wentworth Esq'r. Lieut General, Gov- 

ernor and Commander in Chief in and over fiis Majesty's 

Province of Neio Hampshire, the Hon'ble his Majesty's Council 

and House of Representatives for said Province in General 

Assembly Convened the 25th day of June, Anno Domini 1766. 

The Humble Petition of the Inhabitants of Gosport in the 

Province of New Hampshire and others whose Interest is con- 

I'erned — shews — 

That the situation of the Road and harbour at Gos- 
port aforesaid is well known to be exposed to the violence of 
Winds and Seas in many cases and Events which frequently 
Dccur by which they often sustain much Loss and Damage which 
they wou'd gladly Prevent if by any means feasible. 

That it has been Judo-'d a Pier or Bason misfht be so contrived 
and built as to be in a Great measure a security in this case and 



212 



APPENDIX, 



a means of great saving to your Petitioners and Preservation of 
their Property. 

That to make such a work effectual a Larger sum would be 
demanded than your Petitioners by any means cou'd raise, but as 
it wou'd be of very General Utility in its consequence, they flat- 
ter themselves the scheme for carrying on such a Building wou'd 
meet with suitable Encouragement from many other Persons be- 
sides your Petitioners and those who have connections with them. 

Wherefore your Petitioners Humbly Pray that they may have 
leave to set up and carry on a Public Lottery to raise money for 
the End aforesaid and for that Purpose to bring in a bill contain- 
ing such Limitations and Restrictions as shall be tho't necessary 
but with such extent and authority as shall be sufficient to Effect 
the Design and your Petitioners as in Duty bound shall ever 
Pray, &c. 



Jno. Tucke. 
Henry Carter. 
Richard Talfrey. 
John Varrell(V) 
William Mickamore. 
William Holbrook. 
Samuel Varrell, Jun'r. 
John Down. 
John Down, Jun'r. 
Samuel Downe. 
Jeremiah Lord. 
Jos. Damrell. 
Peter Robinson. 
John Walfrey. 
Ambrose Perkins. 
John Barter. 
Wm. Sanderson. 
George WaKrey. 
Josiah Sanderson. 
Henry Shapley, Jun'r. 
Joseph Muchamore. 



Henry Shapley. 
Richard Talfrey, Jun'r. 
Henry Talfrey. 
Daniel Rindle. 
James Hickey. 
Samuel Yarrell. 
Sam'l Muchmore. 
Gregory Purcell(?) 
Sam'l Cutts. 
Daniel Rindge. 
Geo. Boyd. 
Nath'l Adams. 
Jonathan Warner. 
Thomas Wentworth. 
John Sherburne. 
D. Sherburne. 
Sam'l Warner. 
Titus Salter. 
Abraham Trefethen. 
Hugh Hall Wentworth. 
Wm. Kniffht. 



APPENDIX. 



213 



Elamuel Muchamore. 
Benj'n Muchamore. 
Sam'l Muchamore. 
Arthur Rendle. 
Arthur Rendle, Jun'r. 
George Rendle. 
John Rendle. 
Edward Bondey. 
Henry W. Andrews. 
S. Mathews. 
Jno. JSI'ewton. 
Stephen Pierce. 
Jas. Ward. 
Rich'd Langford. 
Wm. Bickam(?) 
Sam'l Healy. 
John Parrell. 
Sam'l Currier. 



Temple Knight. 
Samuel Sherburne. 
Geo. Janvrin. 
Sam'l Dalling. 
John Flagg. 
Joseph Whipple. 
James Stoodly. 
Rich'd Hart. 
Wm. Whipple, 
Jno. Parker. 
H. Wentworth. 
■John Penhallow. 
Thos. Bell. 
Samuel Moffatt. 
D. Peirce. 
Paul March(?) 
John Moffatt. 



Province of 

New HA.MPSE1IRE 



In Council June 28, 1766, Read and Or- 
dered to he sent doton to the Hon'ble Assembly* 
T. ATKINSON, Jun\, Sec'y. 



Province of > In tlte House of Representatives, July 3rf 
New Hampshire > 1766. 

Voted, That the Petitioners be heard on this Petition the sec- 
ond Day of the siting of the General Assembly after the first of 
September next, and that the Petitioners at their own cost cause 
the substance of this Petition and Order of Court to be Published 
three weeks successively in the New Hampshire Gazett that any 
Person may appeal and shew cause why the Prayer thereof 
should not be granted. 

M. WEARE, Clr. 
In Council Eod'm Die 
read and Concurred 

T. ATKINSON Jun., Sec'y. 



214 APPENDIX 

PiiovixcE OF 7 In the House of Representatives Aug'st 
New Hampshire ) 28^7i 1767. 

The foregoing Petition being Read and Considered, appearing 
Beasonable and no objection made, 

Voted, That the Prayer of the Petition be Granted and thai 
the Petitioners have Liberty to bring in a Bill accordingly. 

M. WEARE, Clr, 
In Council Eod'm Die 
Read and Concurr'd 

T. ATKINSON, Jun., Sec'ij. 

In the House of Representatives, Sept. 17, 1767, P. M. 

An act for granting a Lottery for building a Pier or Bason at 
the Isle of Shoals having been three times Read 

Voted, That it pass to be Enacted. 

Sent on by Mr. Bailey. 
Sept. 24, 1767. 

Mr. Sec'y bro't from the Board the Act for granting a Lottery 
for building a Pier or bason at the Isles of Shoals, and said the 
Councill tbo't the managers appointed by the i^ct ought to be 
under Oath, which by the Act they were not obliged to ; and 
Proposed that amendment to be made. 

The House considering the amendment proposed agreed that 
it be made, which being made, the Act was sent to the Board 
again. 

Journal of Council and Assembly, Sept. 24, 1767. 

A Bill Intituted An Act for granting liberty to carry on a Lot- 
tery to raise money for building a Pier and forming a Bason in 
the Harbour at Gosport. Read a 3d time and past to be 
Enacted, and assented to by the Governor. 

THEODORE ATKINSON, Jun., Sec'y. 

This scheme of raising funds, by lottery, for the construction 
of a pier or basin at the Shoales, having proved impracticable 
was shortly after abandoned. 



